Next weekend, CultureFest was expected to bring music, art and fun activities to Springfield, Ohio, in celebration the town’s diversity. Following a wave of anti-immigrant rumors, the fest has been canceled.
“In light of recent threats and safety concerns, the City of Springfield has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s CultureFest celebration,” said a Monday Facebook post from the city. “The decision was made with the utmost consideration for the safety and well-being of our community and event participants.”
During a presidential debate last Tuesday with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, the GOP candidate, repeated a rumor circulating online about immigrants in Springfield eating pets. Previously, the rumor regarding Haitian immigrants was also shared by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and internet personality Laura Loomer, among others.
“In Springfield, they are eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats,” Trump said during the debate.
Vance has doubled down on the claims since the debate, though no credible evidence of their veracity has been uncovered. A new YouGov poll showed that 52% of likely Trump voters believe the claims are likely or probably true.
These rumors have thrust the town of around 59,000 people located between Columbus and Dayton into the national spotlight.
“While we are experiencing challenges related to the rapid growth of our immigrant population, these challenges are primarily due to the pace of the growth, rather than the rumors being reported,” said Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said in a Sept. 11 video address. “These rumors will not distract us from addressing the real strain on our resources, including the impact to our schools, healthcare system and first responders.”
The following day, the city announced that its City Hall was closed due to a bomb threat issued to multiple facilities throughout the town. Per the city, the building was evacuated and authorities conducted an investigation.
According to Axios, two elementary schools were also evacuated Friday amid threats and a third middle school was closed for the day. Additionally, the FBI investigated threats sent to Wittenberg University “following bomb and shooting threats,” said the outlet.
NBC News reported last week that a woman who shared one of the earliest social media posts related to the rumor admitted she had no firsthand knowledge of the incident she shared. In the post, she said her neighbors’ cat had gone missing and that the neighbor told her it was the victim of an attack by Haitian neighbors.
“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Erika Lee told NBC News last Friday. By that time, she had deleted her post.
NewsGuard, a watchdog group, identified the neighbor as Kimberly Newton. It said Newton provided Lee with a third hand account of the rumor and that Lee misstated the story.
“The interviews reveal just how flimsy and unsubstantiated the rumor was from the beginning – based entirely on third hand hearsay. Yet it quickly gained traction and, remarkably, found its way to Trump’s lips on a national stage,” said NewsGuard.
Other posts related to the allegations were also found to be false, per the group. These included a photo of a man holding a dead goose taken in Columbus, Ohio, and a graphic a woman who allegedly killed and tried to eat a cat in Canton, Ohio, that has no connection to the Haitian community.
According to Forbes, urban legends about immigrants eating pets have circulating in the U.S. for decades. Still, the rumors continued this week. Audacy reported Monday that the Dayton Police Department was getting ahead of the claims and said there is no evidence it is happening in the town.
“I feel for the Haitian community,” said Lee of the situation. “If I was in the Haitians’ position, I’d be terrified, too, worried that somebody’s going to come after me because they think I’m hurting something that they love and that, again, that’s not what I was trying to do.”
As for CultureFest, Heck said the decision to cancel the event was made in consultation with law enforcement.
“We deeply regret having to cancel CultureFest, as we know it is a beloved event for our community,” he said. “However, the safety of our residents and visitors must come first.”