The 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony has drawn some flak from certain sections of society.
However, it has also become a favourite playing ground for satirical websites to spread false narratives, which are often taken by naïve netizens as true.
The latest in this spread of false narrative is the news that Home Depot has ended Olympic sponsorship after the 2024 Paris Opening Ceremony.
Read on to learn the true story behind this rumour and also understand how rumours and misinformation can spread rapidly in the age of social media. Thankfully, many sane heads question the validity of such claims made online.
Did Home Depot Withdraw Its Olympics Sponsorship Following the 2024 Paris Opening Ceremony?
The genesis of the latest rumour about Home Depot ending their 30-year Olympics sponsorship after the 2024 Paris Opening Ceremony can be traced to a meme which surfaced on the Facebook page ‘America – Love It Or Leave It,’ which proclaimed that the 30-year-long Olympics sponsorship ended after the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony controversy.
The post soon found a lot of takers, and in a short period, 14,000 comments were posted, and several individuals expressed support for Home Depot’s stance.
However, when a we delved deeper into the origins of the website, they came to realize that the site, America’s Last Line of Defense, is known for its satirical content. The Facebook page of the site clearly states that everything it publishes is fictional and should not be taken as genuine news.
It was also revealed that no news outlet had published any report to support the assertion that Home Depot withdrew its sponsorship in response to the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony.
The latest episode once again emphasized the importance of not blindly believing any claims which are made by websites on the internet.
The social media realm is a double-edged sword and often becomes an unwilling but naïve model for the spread of misinformation. Sensational claims must never be believed blindfolded, and efforts must be made to verify these claims.
As mentioned above, the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024 has attracted a lot of flak.
The French Police have even launched an investigation after a lot of death threats and online abuse were directed at LGBTQ+ icon Barbara Butch.
Many people were angered by what they perceived as the controversial portrayal of Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ during the ceremony.
However, the controversy failed to die down despite the clarification by the IOC that the tableau was not a depiction of the Last Supper but the celebration of God’s feast by the Greek God Dionysus.
