First, you see the enraged bright chestnut flames blazing through Paris’ medieval Catholic cathedral. Then you notice the flames race to demolish the Cathédrale Notre-Dame’s tall wooden spire as grand clouds of smoke fill the air. The burning exemplar of French Gothic architecture lights up the skies while the YouTube video plays a superimposed audio clip of a man yelling “Allahu Akbar,” which is Arabic for “God is Great.”
The video – a fake – quickly spread on social media, along with related conspiracy theories from far-right influencers like Richard Spencer and Jack Posobiec, who falsely suggested that Muslims were to blame for the fire. Also, promoting an Islamophobic spin on what investigators say was an accidental fire? North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a pro-Trump Republican who is now his party’s nominee to lead the state.
