QUESTION:
Have Democrats introduced a law making it a hate crime to eat at Chick-fil-A?
ANSWER:
No, this viral claim comes from a satirical article.
SOURCES:
Congress.Gov, The Babylon Bee
PROCESS:
With so much political mudslinging and misinformation out there, the WUSA9 Verify team separates fact from fiction about what you see online. Like a recent social media post that says eating at a popular fast food spot could soon be a hate crime.
The article claims House Democrats unveiled legislation just unveiled legislation that would make it a hate crime to eat at Chick-fil-A. People are furious, so the Verify team got the facts.
Right off the bat, the team looked closely at the Babylon Bee website where the story was first posted, it's described as a trusted source for Christian News Satire.
Just to see if there was any bit of truth, we took a closer look at the article. It says lawmakers rushed to get the bill ready after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posted his Chick- fil-A bill online last weekend.
That part is legit. Dorsey got a lot of online flack for eating at the restaurant during Pride Month. He also admitted in a tweet that he forgot about the "company's background."
You'll probably remember when restaurant's President, Dan Cathy, publicly opposed same sex marriage back in 2012.
But as for any hate act laws enforcing punishment for eating at the restaurant including extra punishment for sharing it on social media accounts, that's completely untrue, no such bill exist or has been proposed.
No fines or any other hefty penalties coming your way for chowing down at Chick-fil-A, we can verify this claim is false.
The article also claims House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi co-sponsored the hate crime bil, that too is untrue.