Olive Garden — the restaurant chain — was compelled this weekend to defend itself from a possible boycott after a single Twitter user claimed that the restaurant is “funding” President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. The restaurant is doing no such thing, and it couldn’t even if it wanted to. It is illegal for corporations to contribute to presidential campaigns.
But try telling that to the #Resistance dimwits who prowl about the Internet seeking the ruin of souls.
This remarkably stupid story starts with a Twitter user named “Lilley Dennese.”
“Lilley Dennese” claims to be a columnist and a professor at Palo Verde College in Blythe, California. “Lilley Dennese” claims also to be a “nasty woman” who is married to a “bad hombre.”
“Lilley Dennese” is also an exceptionally stupid human being.
On Aug. 25, the “nasty woman” said in a since-deleted tweet, “Olive Garden is funding Trump’s re-election in 2020. It would be terrible if you shared this and Olive Garden lost business.”
By the time “Lilley Dennese” deleted her hoax tweet, it had been shared by more than 40,000 social media users. It also inspired the second-top trending hashtag (“#BoycottOliveGarden”) in the U.S. over the weekend, which is why the restaurant itself felt compelled to respond.
“We don’t know where this information came from, but it is incorrect,” the restaurant’s social media account tweeted Sunday evening. “Our company does not donate to presidential candidates.”
It added elsewhere, “We don’t know where this information came from, but it is incorrect. Our company does not donate to presidential candidates.”
It said in yet another note, this time referring specifically to its parent company, Darden Restaurant Group, “To clarify, Darden does not donate to federal candidates.”
Calls to boycott Olive Garden come after another obscure, but equally dimwitted, Twitter user, “@BillyBobSanderz,” went viral on Aug. 8 after sharing a list of restaurants, including Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, that supposedly support Trump’s reelection campaign. None of this is true, but facts have not stopped the false claim from spreading. The tweeted list of supposedly pro-Trump restaurants, which is still live, has been shared by more than 247,000 social media users. And it is all a lie.
The only charitable explanation for why “Lilley Dennese” would accuse Olive Garden of “funding” Trump’s 2020 campaign is that social media user misunderstood Federal Election Commission contributions data, mistaking a donation from an individual Darden employee for a contribution from the corporation itself.
But that would assume “Lilley Dennese” actually looked over the FEC data. Maybe I am being uncharitable, but I doubt that is the case. It seems more likely that the kind of person who still refers to herself as a “nasty woman” nearly four years after the 2016 presidential election is also the kind of person to share online hoaxes without a second thought.
