| schema:text
| - A rumor that retail giant Walmart announced it was closing all stores in red states — that is, all states that backed Republican nominee Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election — by 2025 was circulating online in early December 2024.
For example, on Dec. 7, the Facebook page SpaceX Fanclub posted (archived) a meme consisting of a collage of a Walmart store and a partial map of the United States. Text below those images read: "Walmart Announces Shift to Blue States," and "Red State Stores Set to Close by 2025."
(Facebook page SpaceX Fanclub)
In a pinned comment, a moderator for the page posted a link to an article published by Esspots.com on Dec. 8. The article began:
(Esspots.com)
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as being true. For example, one Facebook user commented: "That would be the stupidest thing Walmart can do." Another said: "Good I avoid Walmart as much as I can."
However, there was no demonstrable evidence that Walmart had made any announcement regarding closing stores specifically in red states. Likewise, no credible news outlets have reported on such a story as of this writing.
Rather, the rumor about Walmart shifting to blue states (those that backed Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris) originated with the SpaceX Fanclub Facebook page and Esspots.com — both of which are part of a network of websites and social media accounts that describe their output as being satirical in nature. SpaceX Fanclub's Intro section states: "We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real."
Similarly, a page titled "Disclaimer" on Esspots.com began:
Welcome to Esspots.com, a website that specializes in satire, parody, and humor. Before you proceed to read our content, we would like to emphasize that nothing on this website is real. All of the articles, stories, and commentary found on Esspots.com are entirely fictitious and created for the purpose of entertainment only.
The fictional story emerged a month after Trump defeated Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
The SpaceX Fanclub page on Facebook and its affiliated website, Esspots.com, both have a history of making up stories for shares and comments.
On Dec. 9, Time Out magazine did publish an article listing 11 Walmart stores set to close by the end of the year. However, it did not state that the closures were limited to red states. In fact, California, a blue state that backed Harris, will be most impacted, according to the article, with five stores being shuttered. Other blue states facing closures are Colorado (one) and Maryland (one). Three red states will be affect: Georgia (two), Ohio (one) and Wisconsin (one).
Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims stemming from the network in the past, including the assertion that Target announced plans to close stores in red states and a rumor that pop star Taylor Swift announced a boycott of red states after the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, saying: "I can't in good conscience perform there."
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)