Haiti Cannibals Hoax / 2024 Haitian Gang Takeover

About

Haiti Cannibals Hoax, part of the 2024 Haitian Gang Takeover, is a viral topic and video that spread online showing the aftermath of a gang takeover of the capital of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince. An older video showing people roasting and eating what appeared to be a human leg was shared online in the aftermath of the violence to imply that cannibalism was taking place in Haiti. Video footage of gang violence, footage supposedly showing cannibalism, and a speech given by gang leader Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier led to memes about Haiti, immigration, and gang violence online in March 2024.

Origin

On March 9th, 2024, X user @WallStreetSilv^[1] uploaded a video showing the active takeover of a police station and the streets in the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince following the country's descent into chaos.^[5] In the post, it was stated that the Prime Minister of Haiti had fled the country amid the incident as uniformed and armed people can be seen engaging in combat as civilians try to escape, with the gangs being explicitly mentioned as "cannibalistic" (shown below). The post received over 5.6 million views and 18,000 likes in two days.

Spread

In the following days, news coming out of Haiti often centered around known gang leader Jimmy Cherizier becoming a prominent figure in the takeover, with various content creators and political activists having their own takes on him and the situation.

For example, on March 11th, 2024, TikToker Kagan_Dunlap^[2] posted a TikTok updating his audience on Jimmy Cherizie, nicknamed "Barbecue," and the situation in Haiti and how the United States airlifted its personnel out of the Embassy (shown below). The video received nearly 90,000 likes and 5,600 comments in less than a day.

While looking into past videos and pictures of Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, some online users noticed that he often wore a Masonic Logo necklace that is used by the Freemasons in popular culture. This led to speculation by some that Barbecue and the overthrowing of Haiti is another plot in the battle between The Illuminati and the Freemasons.

For example, this was alluded to in the TikTok posted by user GhostCypher01^[3] on March 11th, 2024, which shows several different pictures of Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, with the logo being shown on different necklaces he wears (shown below).

Cannibalism Street Video

At the same time that footage of gang violence started to spread, a viral video of a man eating the flesh of a human leg that was on fire also began to circulate online. This viral footage, despite being quickly removed from social media for its graphic content, inspired numerous memes and reactions about Haiti, cannibals and cannibalism on social media in March 2024.

On March 11th, 2024, TikToker Dark_Krizzie^[4] uploaded a TikTok in which it is reported that the viral video is from a prior incident two years ago and is not related to the current gang takeover (shown below), receiving over 150 likes in less than a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References