Islamophobic fake news stories are making the rounds again. This time, it's about a cartoon pig.
The fake news story goes like this: a group of Australian imams are looking to create an spin-off of Peppa Pig, a popular British cartoon for kids, for the express purpose of removing the pig character. The reason, the reports say, is to make the cartoon more Sharia-compliant.
The imams are trying to create a cartoon, it's true. But the show is neither a spin-off of Peppa Pig nor does their project have anything to do with pigs.
In fact, the imams in question said they had "no idea" of Peppa Pig's existence.
Also, while eating pig meat (pork) is expressly banned in Islam, the mere existence of that animal is not.
Meet Barakah Hills, a "halal cartoon series"
The production company One4Kids recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $20,000 to start a show called Barakah Hills, being pitched as a "new halal cartoon series."
Barakah Hills aims to "tell the story of the Abdullah family and their everyday experiences in the town of Barakah Hills, a small town with a predominantly Muslim population," says the crowdfunding page.
The story was picked up by various media outlets following the release of a video of leading Australian imam Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, where he encourages parents to subscribe to One4Kids.
Alsuleiman was then falsely accused of calling Peppa Pig a "corrupting influence."
“Today is the first time I came to know of the programme,” Alsuleiman said in a statement.
"This ridiculous media frenzy about the Peppa Pig cartoon is based firstly on a misleading headline and secondly on an insatiable appetite by some media outlets to misrepresent and embellish the reality for sensationalist propaganda purposes," he added.
People fell for it
Peppa Pig protest
But, many were quick to point out the misreporting
