Reviewers of the restaurant owned by the family of Chelsea bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami spewed hate speech in dozens of posts before Yelp temporarily locked down the page.
Amelia Warshaw
AMELIA WARSHAW
09.19.16 11:20 AM ET
While law enforcement and FBI officers were on a “manhunt” for New York and New Jersey bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, reviewers took to Yelp to extract virtual vigilante justice.
Once reviewers discovered that the First American Fried Chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey was owned by the family of a suspected terrorist, the review page began erupting with negative commentary, including Islamophobic jokes and calls for “ethnic cleansing.”
With only three previous reviews, the First American Fried Chicken restaurant had an average rating of 4.67 before Monday morning. While these early reviewers called the food “amazing” and positively remarked that the restaurant was halal and “family owned,” an onslaught of one-star reviews began pouring in shortly after the announcement that there was a “manhunt” out for Rahami.
The one-star reviews came from all over the country, including California, Texas, Alabama and New York.
Some simply wrote not to eat at the restaurant, while others began calling the restaurant a “terrorist cell coverup.” Many users began to call for the storefront to be shut down.
“Bobby J,” a reviewer from Pompton Plains, New Jersey, announced his intention to hold “a rally to shut this dump down.”
“When a family member is considered the prime suspect in Radical Islamic Terrorist bombings in NYC and NJ and he worked there, not good for business… say no to terrorism in our great City!”
Another reviewer identified as “Mary J.” from Waterbury, Connecticut wrote, “there is a serious Jihad problem in this country! Me thinks that there needs to be an ethnic cleansing here and fast!!!!”
Other Islamophobic and blatantly racist comments continued to be posted by Yelpers.
“Mick H.” from Watertown, Massachusetts described Islam as “the scab covering earths [sic] healing wound,” adding, “Muslims are an infection.”
“Kevin D.” from Dallas, Texas wrote a trolling review telling the owners of the restaurant that it “should be closed down permanently and every member of your family should be deported back to TERRORSTAN.”
Yelp Reviewers Troll First American Fried Chicken, the restaurant owned by Ahmad Khan Rahami's family/HP: Yelpers Trash Bomb Suspect's Restaurant
YELP
Twenty-one other Yelp users labeled Mark S.’s comment as “useful.”
“Mark S.” from Mandeville, Louisiana described the employees of the First American Fried Chicken restaurant as “Filthy Mohammedan Savages.” He encouraged other “savages” to “stop back by and enjoy their cockroach-laden Halal food, which means the animal has been ritually tortured before processing because Satan/Allah commands it.”
“My personal recco is to order the Religion of Pieces,” he continued, “it’s Shredded Meat, cooked rare and dripping with blood… it’s a favorite of the Punjabs.”
One Yelp user, “Zach D.” of Saint Louis, Missouri, decided to combat these reviews by writing a positive message to the family members of Rahami and those trolling the review page of the restaurant:
“I support this family fully. You can’t be responsible for what your it [sic] family members do. We all have black sheep in our family.” He continued by calling for “patience, tolerance and compassion” and apologizing for the slew of negative reviews. “Sorry about the media.”
Yelp Reviewers Troll First American Fried Chicken, the restaurant owned by Ahmad Khan Rahami's family/HP: Yelpers Trash Bomb Suspect's Restaurant
