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French athletes wave flags, July 26, 2024, as they sail in a boat on the Seine River during the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in Paris. (AP) French athletes wave flags, July 26, 2024, as they sail in a boat on the Seine River during the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in Paris. (AP)

French athletes wave flags, July 26, 2024, as they sail in a boat on the Seine River during the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in Paris. (AP)

Sabine Martin
By Sabine Martin August 6, 2024

Kamala Harris didn’t praise the Olympics’ opening ceremony in an X post

If Your Time is short

  • A review of Vice President Kamala Harris’ social media accounts confirmed that she never posted on X on the day of or in the days following the 2024 Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony. 

  • The post appears to have originated on a satire site.

 

Some critics of Vice President Kamala Harris are claiming she posted on X praising the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony, which generated controversy. 

A July 28 X post that included a screenshot of what appeared to be a Harris X post that said, "What an impressive show by all of these beautiful and diverse people at the Opening Ceremony of The Olympics! Director Thomas Jolly did an incredible job, and made France look great! America, this is what we need to strive towards!" 

But Harris didn’t post on X with that, or anything else, reacting to the Olympics’ opening ceremony.

The screenshot went viral on Instagram and X. The screenshot appears to have originated July 27 on an X account called Simply Satire. 

The fabricated post shows three scenes screenshotted from the July 26 opening ceremony. The ceremony included scenes with performers dressed in drag that conservative lawmakers have criticized, saying they appeared to mock "The Last Supper." Jolly, the Paris Olympics’ artistic director, said July 28 on French TV that the scene was meant to depict a Dionysian pagan celebration. 

We found no evidence that Harris posted the statement on her X accounts, @KamalaHarris, @VP and @KamalaHQ. 

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When contacted for comment, Harris’ campaign called the post "obviously untrue." 

Social media analytics platform Social Blade shows that Harris’ X account did not delete any posts July 26 or 27. An Aug. 5 review of Harris’ accounts on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook showed no posts about the Olympics’ opening ceremony as of that date. 

A search of her three X accounts for the term "Olympics" shows that her most recent post on the topic was from 2020. On her @VP X and TikTok accounts, Harris posted in July to thank the USA men’s basketball team for representing the nation at the Summer Games. 

The opening ceremony scene sparked discussion among Republicans and religious leaders. 

Trump said July 29 on Fox News that the opening ceremony had "scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity." 

Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote July 27 on X that the opening ceremony was insulting to Christian people. 

Social media claims used a fabricated tweet to claim that Harris posted on social media that the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony "made France look great! America, this is what we need to strive towards!" We rate those claims False.

Our Sources

Kamala Harris campaign email comment, Aug. 5, 2024

X, @SimplySatire post, July 27, 2024

Socialblade.com, Kamala Harris Twitter Metrics, accessed Aug. 4, 2024 

X, Matt Murphy post, July 27, 2024

X, Kamala Harris @KamalaHarris, accessed Aug. 3, 2024 

X, @SprinterFamily post, July 28, 2024

Instagram, @davymichael post, July 27, 2024

NPR, "An ambitious Olympics opening ceremony showboats French culture on the Seine River," July 26, 2024

Britannica, Dionysus information, accessed Aug. 3, 2024 ​​

Cenacolo Vinciano, Leonardo da Vinci information, accessed Aug. 3, 2024

The Associated Press, "Drag queens shine at Olympics opening, but ‘Last Supper’ tableau draws criticism," July 27, 2024

The Associated Press, "The Olympics are more than fun and games. They’re a billion-dollar business with political overtones," June 18, 2024

Le Monde, "Paris Olympics: Trump says opening ceremony was 'a disgrace,'" July 30, 2024

X, Speaker of The House Mike Johnson post, July 27, 2024

X, Kamala Harris post, Dec. 7, 2020

TikTok, Kamala Harris post, Aug. 4, 2024

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Kamala Harris didn’t praise the Olympics’ opening ceremony in an X post

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