No, Man Spitting on Pizza is Not Muslim Immigrant in London Restaurant

A video clip of a man spitting on food is doing rounds on social media. Users are claiming that it is from London and the man in the video is a Muslim immigrant from Algeria.

Fact Crescendo received many requests about this video on our WhatsApp Factline (9049053770).

Upon investigating, it is found that the video is from the US and the man in question is neither Muslim nor an immigrant from Algeria.

WHAT’S THE CLAIM?

A user shared the video of a man spitting on food and wrote: “This is from London. This is a Muslim immigrant from Algeria. So avoid the shops of ‘these’ if you don’t want to taste their spit” (यह लंदन का दृश्य है और यह शांतिदूत अल्जीरिया से आया हुआ एक शरणार्थी है. सीधी सी बात है जैसे ही पता चले कि इनकी दुकान है चुपचाप कट लो वरना इनका थूक वाला खाओ)

Original Post – Facebook | Archive

The same video is widely shared on Twitter as well with a similar claim.

Archive

FACT CHECK

To check the veracity of the claim, we performed a reverse image search upon key-frames of the viral video. It lead us to many news reports about this video, which is, in fact from America, not from London.

CBS Miami reported in 2018 that a food vendor in Detroit was caught spitting on a pizza. This video was shot at Comerica Park in Detroit. 

According to AP News, the name of the man in the video is Jaylon Kerley. He was a food service worker at Comerica Park in Detroit. 

He had been charged with felony and misdemeanor after a video was posted online that showed him spitting on a pizza during a Baseball game.

The video first appeared on Instagram when a customer caught Jaylon spitting on a pizza on 23 September 2018.  

Original News – AP News

Quinell May, who had captured this video, told reporters that Jaylon was having a bad day and he took out his anger by spitting on a pizza. 

Later, the Detroit Sportservice put out a statement that the booth where Jaylon was working had been closed and he was fired from the job.

For his disgusting act, Jaylon was sentenced to 18 months of probation. He was also ordered to take an anger management class and not work around food during probation. 

CONCLUSION

The video of the man spitting is not from London. It is from the US city of Detroit. It was captured at a Baseball stadium in 2018. Nowhere in any news reports was it mentioned that Jaylon was a Muslim or an Algerian immigrant. Hence, an old video from America is being passed off as being from London with communal spin.