Fact Check: The Truth Behind Claim Anthony Bourdain Once Said, 'The World Has Visited Many Terrible Things on the Palestinian People'

Claim:

Anthony Bourdain once said, “The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity.”

Rating:

On June 29, 2024, X user @zei_squirrel made a post (archived) sharing a video purporting to show celebrity chef, author, television personality Anthony Bourdain, who died in 2018, expressing sympathy and admiration for Palestinians.

In the body of the post, @zei_squirrel included a transcription of a quote that begins at the video's 00:45 timestamp: "The world has visited many terrible things on the Palestinian people, none more shameful than robbing them of their basic humanity."

At the time of this writing, @zei_squirrel's post had received around 10,000 reposts and 33,000 likes.

The quote and the video of Bourdain delivering it are both authentic. The original source is an acceptance speech Bourdain made in 2014, when the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) recognized him as a "voice of courage and conscience" at the organization's 2014 Media Awards. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on the award at the time and included a transcription of Bourdain's acceptance speech in their coverage. As a result, Snopes has rated this claim as "Correct Attribution."

Bourdain did not accept the MPAC award in person. Instead, the organization played his pre-recorded acceptance speech for attendees at the ceremony, which took place on May 18, 2014. Two days later, on May 20, 2014, the organization made the video available to the general public through its official YouTube page.

As is also the case for the version of the video @zei_squirrel shared on X, the quote in question can be found at 00:45 timestamp of the version posted by MPAC's official YouTube account, which is embedded above.

The reason for the 2014 award was Bourdain's handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict in an episode of Bourdain's television show, "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," which aired on CNN from 2013 until 2018. "Jerusalem," the episode MPAC singled out for an award, first aired in September 2013 and featured Bourdain visiting restaurants, private homes, and a refugee camp in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. A short video clip featuring highlights from the episode was shared on MPAC's YouTube page in May 2014.

Although the full MPAC video of Bourdain's full speech has been available on YouTube since 2014, the quote appears to have gone viral in 2024 thanks to the reemergence of a version edited and produced by AJ+, which is part of the Al Jazeera Media Network and is described on its website as "a unique, global digital news and storytelling brand dedicated to human rights and equality."

AJ+ first shared its version of the video, which begins with the quote investigated here, via the organization's X account on June 8, 2018, the day news broke of Bourdain's death at age 61.

On the same day, the outlet also shared a version of the quote in image form.

The AJ+ version of the video differs from the original version shared by MPAC in two notable ways. First, it opens with a clip of the quote investigated here before returning to the beginning of Bourdain's speech, which is then aired in full. Second, AJ+ intercut the original video footage, which shows Bourdain reading his notes, with footage taken from the "Parts Unknown" episode for which he won the award. None of the edits AJ+ made to the original video altered the content of Bourdain's words in any way.

AJ+ has made X posts sharing its edit of Bourdain's speech multiple times since June 2018. The most recent occasion was on June 25, 2024, which would have been Bourdain's 68th birthday. Made four days before @zei_squirrel's viral post, that AJ+ post (archived) had received around 3,300 reposts and 6,200 likes at the time of this writing.

Snopes has previously investigated another quote about Palestine that popular social media posts have attributed to Bourdain.

Sources:

"About." AJ+, https://www.ajplus.net/about. Accessed 9 July 2024.

Haaretz. "TV Chef Wins Muslim Award for Courage." Haaretz, 23 May 2014. Haaretz, https://www.haaretz.com/2014-05-23/ty-article/tv-chef-wins-muslim-award/0000017f-e765-df5f-a17f-ffff68490000.

"Jerusalem." Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, directed by Sally Freeman, 15 Sept. 2013.

Stelter, Brian. "CNN's Anthony Bourdain Dead at 61." CNN, 8 June 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html.

---. "CNN's Anthony Bourdain Dead at 61." CNN, 8 June 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/08/us/anthony-bourdain-obit/index.html.