The popular web video series Subway Takes decided not to publish an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris after she insulted the Muslim host by making jokes about bacon, insisting that “bacon is a spice.”
The host, Kareem Rahma, had wanted to help Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D) of Minnesota, partly because he is opposed to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and believed that their policy was closer to his views.
But when Harris showed up for the interview, she shocked Rahma by insisting that her “take” be about the joys of bacon.
The New York Times‘ Reggie Ugwu reported:
What happened was a dispute over Harris’s take. Rahma said he had been told that the vice president would be taking a stand against removing one’s shoes on airplanes. When they sat down, however, Harris had surprised him with a different take: “Bacon is a spice.” (Two senior campaign officials said this topic had been raised in advance. Rahma and his manager dispute this.)
Rahma, who doesn’t eat pork for religious reasons, was taken aback. “I don’t know,” he says, in an unpublished video recording of the interview, his voice rising to an unusually high pitch. Harris elaborates that bits of cooked bacon can be used to enhance a meal like any other seasoning. “Think about it, it’s pure flavor,” she says.
Rahma asks Harris if he can use beef or turkey and what kinds of dishes would benefit from bacon. He then pauses the interview and tells her that he doesn’t eat it. He asks if they can do the airplanes take instead. But, on the advice of a staffer, Harris decides to declare her love of anchovies on pizza — an alternative the campaign had floated earlier in an email. Rahma wraps the discussion one minute later.
Rahma ultimately decided not to air the Harris episode. He did, however, air an episode of Walz talking about gutters:
Harris is facing difficulty among Arab and Muslim American voters; some are choosing Donald Trump instead.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
