Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in August 2017.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has accused a McDonald’s restaurant of intentionally adding bacon to a Muslim family’s meal (video below).
While visiting the area from New York, the family stopped by a Decatur McDonald’s, where they placed an order for 14 sandwiches, AL.com reports.
While eating their meal, they stumbled upon the bacon, which Islam strictly forbids followers from consuming.
“They started noticing it tasted different to them,” said Khaula Hadeed, head of the Alabama chapter of the CAIR. “They eat McChicken all the time at McDonald’s. They knew what they ordered — they know what’s in the sandwich.”
To Hadeed, this was a clear attack on the family.
“It doesn’t sound like a mistake, especially on 14 sandwiches,” Hadeed declared, calling the incident “an intentional act of religious and ethnic bigotry.”
Now Hadeed is demanding an investigation, reporting that one of the adults vomited twice afterwards.
“They’re essentially disturbed about it,” she said of the family.
“McDonald’s should investigate this incident, identify and terminate the employees responsible, and take proactive steps to satisfy this American family’s concerns, starting with an apology.”
News of the incident provoked fierce debate on social media.
Some empathized with the family and believed the accusations.
“I’ve certainly seen ‘good Christians’ doing some nasty things to those who are different,” said one AL.com reader. “I don’t know what happened here, but I can believe that someone putting together the sandwiches in a way that they knew would be offensive … I tend to believe the Muslim family, and think that some nasty fool stuck bacon into their sandwiches as a way to humiliate and inflict suffering on someone who is ‘other,’ they added. “That’s UnAmerican, in my books.”
“Decatur is a hot bed of alt-right, religious fanatics who aren’t tolerant of anybody who doesn’t look like a Baptist,” chimed in a second.
Others, however, were less than sympathetic, and a few were even skeptical.
“It’s a scam,” wrote one, echoing the sentiments of a few who argued the family intentionally created the controversy for money or attention. “They probably picked an Alabama McDonald’s because they figured it would draw more attention than say a McDonald’s in NYC.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe this was done by any McDonald’s employee,” wrote another. “I’d say 99% of the time, the people working in the back aren’t looking to see who their customers are.”