Principal Muhammad al-Salad Forced Halal Menu on West Virginia Elementary Students-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Muhammad al-Salad, the principal of Pratchett-Kline Elementary School in Bluefield, West Virginia, forced a halal menu on students as “a matter of inclusion.”
The Truth:
There’s no truth to rumors that Principal Muhammad al-Salad forced a halal menu on West Virginia elementary school students. That rumor started with America’s Last Line of Defense, a “satirical” website known for misleading readers.
The man pictured in the meme is not Muhammad al-Salad (a name that includes an obvious food pun). Rather, it’s former al-Qaeda recruiter Jesse Morton. He spent time in federal prison for recruiting extremists through his Brooklyn-based website Revolution Muslim. Morton later became an FBI informant — but he ran into legal troubles again in January 2017 when he was charged with drug and prostitution charges.
The meme originated at America’s Last Line of Defense. The website describes its content as “satire,” but readers often mistake it for factual news. There have been similar false rumors over the years, too. Claims that a Quebec mayor refused to remove pork from schools there has been heavily trafficked over the years.
The rumor builds on an earlier false report that Pratchett-Kline Elementary School in Blue Field, West Virginia, hired a Muslim principal. The story goes that the principal said “Sharia is and will be the law.” Turns out there is no Pratchett-Kline Elementary School in Blue Field. Both of these rumors are false.