FACT CHECK: Viral Meme Claims Ilhan Omar ‘Threatened’ To Send Shawarma To Republican Members Of Congress

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

An image shared on Facebook alleges that Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar “threatened” to send shawarma to Republican members of Congress to “give them a taste of her culture.”

“Share to say arrest her now!” reads part of the caption.

Verdict: False

The Daily Caller found no evidence Omar ever made such a threat to her Republican colleagues.

Fact Check:

Social media websites are replete with misinformation about politicians. In this case, the meme makes a dubious claim about Omar, one of three Muslims now serving in Congress. An iteration of this particular claim has been shared on Facebook more than 146,000 times.

“Musslamic (sic) Democrat, Ilhan Omar, has threatened members of Congress,” claims the post. “She’s told several Republicans that she’ll send them ‘shawarma’ to ‘give them a taste of her culture.'” (RELATED: Did Ilhan Omar Vote Against Making Female Genital Mutilation A Felony?)

However, the Caller didn’t find any media reports of Omar threatening to send her Republican colleagues shawarma, a popular Middle Eastern dish containing meat shaved off a vertical rotisserie. Neither her social media accounts nor ProPublica’s archive of her deleted tweets have any mentions of the dish either.

The claim likely originated as a piece of satire. America’s Last Line of Defense, a widely known satirical content producer, and other parody news pages have shared the meme on Facebook in recent months. Bustatroll.org has also previously included shawarma in satirical articles about Omar.

Omar’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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