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Harris botched interview with Muslim influencer by celebrating ‘bacon’ as ‘a spice’

harris-botched-interview-with-muslim-influencer-by-celebrating-‘bacon’-as-‘a-spice’
Harris botched interview with Muslim influencer by celebrating ‘bacon’ as ‘a spice’

She jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Vice President Kamala Harris is getting roasted for refusing to talk about the Mideast war with a Muslim influencer — and instead spending her time trying to convince him that bacon is “a spice.’’

The Democratic presidential candidate, 60, chewed the fat last summer with Kareem Rahma, host of the popular TikTok and Instagram show “Subway Takes,” although the interview never aired, the New York Times reported Monday.

Kamala Harris
Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport on November 04, 2024 in Avoca, Pennsylvania. Getty Images

The show routinely features guests, some of whom are celebrities, defending a light, uncommon viewpoint.

But Rahma — a firm opponent of the Harris-Biden administration’s support for Israel in its ongoing war in Gaza — told the outlet that he believed the topic of the conflict was important enough to break his usual protocol and discuss it with the veep.

“There’s something going on in the world that 100 percent of Muslims care about,” he said.

Rahma said he raised the possibility of discussing the war with Harris in each of three phone calls with her staff and the Democratic National Committee before their chat but was rejected each time.

Harris has been heckled at rallies by anti-Israel protesters who oppose her and President Biden’s support for the Jewish state against Palestinian Hamas terrorists.

Rahma said he was then told the vice president was going to argue against taking off shoes on airplanes — and only learned when the two sat down that Harris was instead going to deliver the take that “bacon is a spice.”

“I don’t know,” Rahma — who is Muslim and doesn’t eat pork as part of his faith observance — responded to Harris in their video interview, according to the Times.

“Think about it, it’s pure flavor,” she prodded.

Kareem Rahma
Kareem Rahma, host of the popular TikTok and Instagram show “Subway Takes,” although the interview never aired, the New York Times reported Monday. Stefano Giovannini

The exchange led to Rahma pausing the interview and asking for Harris to return to the topic of shoeless passengers on planes, prompting the veep to instead talk about how she likes anchovies on pizza.

“Well,” Rahma says in the unpublished video, according to the Times. “I’m 100 percent unsure on both of those.”

Rahman said he was already apprehensive about an interview with such a high-profile politician before it happened.

“Then they made it worse by talking about anchovies. Boring!’’ he said.

“I never wanted to be a politics person,” Rahma said. “The more I think about it, the more I feel like I got lucky.”


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The “Subway Takes” host has more than 928,000 followers combined on TikTok and Instagram and did release a separate interview with Harris’ running-mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who discussed how Americans are failing to maintain their homes’ gutters.

Two senior Harris campaign officials told the Times that Rahma had been forewarned that the discussion would touch on pork.

The influencer and his manager told the outlet they received no such warning.

“Kamala booked a spot with a Muslim influencer, and after declining to discuss the Gaza war, she ambushed him with a homage to bacon,’’ writer and filmmaker Leighton Woodhouse said on X.

“This is the worst retail politician in living memory,” Woodhouse said. “She’s like a parody of the parody that is Selena Meyer.”

Breitbart News senior editor at large Joel Pollak posted, “I think @SubwayTakes needs to publish the Kamala Harris video. For comedy alone, if not out of civic duty.”

Another X user griped, “[S]eriously!! Harris made a joke about bacon to a Muslim, is she really that unaware/uninformed?!?!

“[T]his is funny, but also really scary. [J]ust imagine her making a joke like this with a world leader.”

On Monday, the group Abandon Harris urged all Muslim-American voters to back Green Party candidate Jill Stein instead of Harris.

A recent poll from the Council on American-Islamic Relations found Stein surging ahead of Harris with Muslim voters nationwide, 42.3% to 41%.


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There are around 2.5 million Muslim voters in the US, 240,000 of whom reside in the battleground state of Michigan.

Both Harris and GOP foe Donald Trump have promised peace in the Middle East and vied for the support of Muslims in the state.

The former president campaigned last week in the majority-Arab city of Dearborn, stopping at an Arab-American coffee shop to meet with supporters.

Harris failed to earn the endorsement of Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) this cycle, whose district includes Dearborn.

UFC fighters also stepped outside the Octagon to serve as Trump surrogates and push Arab Americans in the Detroit metro region to vote Republican.

The vice president has repeatedly urged for a cease-fire deal to end the conflict in Gaza, during which more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.

There are still more than 100 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas — four of whom are dual US citizens — and the terror group has repeatedly rejected peace proposals brokered by Israel and the US.

Hamas jihadists killed around 1,200 Israelis — and 33 US citizens — in their Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, while kidnapping another 254 civilians from the Jewish state and bringing them back to Gaza.

Reps for the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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