The hosts of the “Today” show talk about the Olympics, interviews with athletes and must-dos in Paris
Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin of the Today show describe what it’s like to cover the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The claim: USA TODAY reported that the Church of Satan thanked the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics
An August 4 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes a video featuring USA TODAY’s logo and branding saying the Church of Satan thanked organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics for a “great” opening ceremony.
“High Priest Peter H. Gilmore not only described the opening ceremony as the best in Olympic history. He emphasized that it was the best international mass event of the last 50 years,” says the video text, which also contains a commentary.
The video includes a clip of a nearly naked man, painted blue and wearing flower garlands, performing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. This controversial scene was condemned by religious groups because it was reminiscent of a famous painting of Jesus Christ.
A similar post on X, formerly Twitter, was reposted more than 200 times within two days.
More from the Fact Check team: How we select and research claims | E-mail newsletter | Facebook page
Our rating: Changed
The video is a fake that USA TODAY has neither reported on nor published. The Church of Satan said it has made no such statements thanking organizers of the Paris Olympics.
The video is not from USA TODAY, the comment is not real
The Facebook video alludes to the controversy surrounding the apparent depiction of Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, wine and feasting, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in July. The scene angered some Christians because of its similarity to Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting “The Last Supper,” which shows Jesus Christ eating with his disciples before his crucifixion.
But USA TODAY neither reported on nor published the video.
“The post circulating on X that uses the USA TODAY logo and brand is fake,” a USA TODAY spokesperson said.
The Church of Satan, an organization that defines Satanism as an atheistic philosophy that rejects any belief in the supernatural, said the claim in the video was false. It responded to a version of the claim on X on August 21, writing, “This is false. We have never made such statements.”
Fact check: CNBC did not report that Apple is removing the clown emoji. Image of the headline has been changed
“I have no interest in the Paris Olympics,” Peter Gilmore, the high priest of the Church of Satan mentioned in the Facebook video, said in a statement posted by the organization on X. “Since I did not see it, I cannot comment on or support the opening ceremony. I have not been interviewed by anyone on this topic. Any statements published anywhere claiming the opposite are lies.”
The Facebook and X users who shared the video did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Our fact-checking sources:
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, our ad-free app or our e-newspaper here.
USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-checking work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.
