Delta Airlines found itself the media focus of apparent anti-Muslim discrimination Wednesday after two Arabic-speaking young men were ejected from a flight because other passengers complained. But the media neglected to investigate far enough to learn that one of the men behind a viral video of the incident has a long track record of faking stories for social media attention.

Newbusters reports that Adam Saleh claimed Delta Airlines ejected him and his friend from their  London-to-New York flight because passengers became “uncomfortable” after hearing him speaking in Arabic to his mother on the phone. As the Delta crew tried to escort him from the plane Saleh began recording a video in which he loudly accuses passengers and crew of being racists.

Saleh asked his many social media fans (he has more than 1.6 million YouTube subscribers) to “please spread” the story in his video tweet, which has been retweeted more than 600,000 times.

The media, always quick to report on incidents that might show just how racist and "Islamophobic" Americans are, leaped to do his bidding. Newbusters noted that by early afternoon the story was picked up by the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, CNN, CBS News, USA Today, and The Verge, among others. Social media users revved up calls for a boycott of Delta Airlines.

Gullible celebrities, who fancy themselves the social conscience of America, were quick to spread Saleh’s unconfirmed story as well:

Newbusters has more:

The kicker is that Saleh has done this many, many times before. His YouTube page is filled with dozens of videos where he stages pranks, intending to get a bigoted reaction from his unsuspecting audience. In several of these videos, he goes so far as to hire actors to play bigots.

In 2014, another one of his videos that supposedly exposed Islamophobia went viral but weeks later, he was forced to admit that the whole incident was staged. At the time, Saleh put up a disclaimer saying it was staged but apparently took it down at some point later because the video now has no disclaimer or indicator anywhere saying it is an act.

To her credit, former CNN host Soledad O’Brien questioned the story because she had an inside source on the same flight:

In a statement obtained by LawNewz.com, the airline said that after collecting statements from “multiple passengers,” they have concluded that Saleh and his friend were intentionally trying to disrupt the plane with “provocative behavior,” and were shouting:

Upon landing the crew was debriefed and multiple passenger statements collected. Based on the information collected to date, it appears the customers who were removed sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior, including shouting. This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight. While one, according to media reports, is a known prankster who was video recorded and encouraged by his traveling companion, what is paramount to Delta is the safety and comfort of our passengers and employees. It is clear these individuals sought to violate that priority.

Another day, another fake claim of Islamophobia.