Home Depot: Canadian division worksheet on privilege gone viral not authorized

In this Aug. 14, 2018 file photo shows a Home Depot store in Passaic, N.J. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

NEW YORK — Home Depot said Wednesday that a worksheet about privilege that went viral is an unauthorized document from the company's Canada division.

An anonymous Twitter account with the handle "Libs of TikTok," which has almost 600,000 followers and focuses on ridiculing liberals, posted a photo of the worksheet entitled "Unpacking Privilege," declaring the nation's largest home improvement retailer had gone "woke."

The worksheet laid out different types of privilege, from social privilege and white privilege to heterosexual privilege.

"If while growing up, college was an expectation of you, not a dream, you have class privilege," it said. It defined racial prejudice as a set of discriminatory or derogatory attitudes based on assumptions coming from perceptions about race/skin colour.

While some on Twitter declared they would no longer shop at the Atlanta-based retailer, others were supportive of the worksheet's message.

Home Depot issued a statement saying that while it supports diversity at the company, the worksheet was not created or approved by its corporate diversity, equity and inclusion department.

"This was a resource in our Canadian division and not part of any required programming," the company said.