Old Video of Man Spitting on Pizza Revived With Communal Twist
We found that the video, which dates back to 2018, is from Detroit, US.
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A video of a man spitting on a pizza while making it has gone viral on the internet, with a claim that the person was a Muslim refugee from Algeria and the video was taken in a restaurant in London.
However, we found that the video, which dates back to 2018, is from Detroit, US. The person in the video is identified as Jaylon Kerley, who was fired after the clip went viral. Kerley later pleaded guilty and was placed on 18-months probation. Neither the religion nor the country of origin of the person was mentioned in any of the reports.
CLAIM
The caption accompanying the viral video read in Hindi, “#लंदन के एक रेस्टोरेंट का दृश्य | #शांतिदूत अल्जीरिया से आया हुआ एक शरणार्थी है | सीधी सी बात है जैसे ही पता चले इनकी #दुकान है चुपचाप कट लो वरना इनका #थूक वाला खाओ |”
[Translation: This is a scene from a restaurant in London. This “peaceful” (a derogatory term used for people from the Muslim community) is a refugee from Algeria. Once you know that the restaurant is run by “them”, just leave as soon as you can or else eat their spit.]
This claim was shared by many on Facebook and Twitter. One user who shared the same video said that it was a “Pakistani restaurant in London”.
An archive of the post can be found here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We extracted keyframes from the viral video and ran a reverse image search on them. The search results lead us to news reports from 2018 about a “food service worker at the Detroit Tigers' stadium who was fired after a video surfaced showing him spitting on a pizza”.
A report published on WXYZ-TV, an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit said that the person, identified as Jaylon Kerley, was facing a felony charge for the incident.
Another report by the website included a quote from a co-worker of Kerley, who posted the viral video online, who said that the employee did it because he was "having a bad day”.
The Associated Press (AP) further reported that Kerley had pleaded guilty in the case. A report published in ESPN on 15 November 2018 said that Kerley was placed on 18-months probation and was ordered to take an anger management class and not work around food while he served his probation.
None of the reports mentioned the religion of the person or his country of origin.
Evidently, an old video of a man spitting on a pizza in Detroit, US was shared on social media with a false claim that it showed a Muslim refugee in a London restaurant.
(With inputs from SM Hoax Slayer)
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