Waiter Interrupts Jewish Wedding With Islamic Chant

Newsday reports that Nassau County police arrested Stephen Buttafuoco, 23, who "interrupted the celebration's final prayers with recorded Arabic chants of 'God is great'" last week. That chant "spark[ed] fear among the 700 guests of a terrorist attack." Buttafuoco, a waiter for the wedding's catering company at the Woodbury Jewish Center (natch, he was fired), recorded the chants—"Allahu Akbar"— from the January 3 pro-Palestine rally in NYC and then played them over the PA system. He was charged with aggravated harassment; a grand jury will decide whether to charge him with disruption of a religious service. His lawyer, who suggested his client might be rebelling against his pro-Israel church preacher father, told Newsday the charges were harsh but added, "On the other hand, I can understand the concern of the members of Jewish community who were at this wedding." We'll wait for the newlyweds and/or Woodbury Jewish Center suing the catering company.

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By Jen Chung in News on January 10, 2009 1:07 PM

Comments [rss]

Billiamsburg

the religion of peace at it again! Those goofballs

amandabee

What religion, Billiamsburg? Last I checked neither Stephen nor Buttafuco was an islamic name. Dumbass, yes. Muslim? not so much.

Meantime, the catering company is completely liable. If I trip and pour wine all over your fluffy white dress, the people I work for have to pick up the dry cleaning tab and it is between me and them how they want to take it from there. The reason you hire a catering company instead of interviewing the waiters yourself is so that you don't end up with a bunch of jackasses.

kellas

Yikes, down the street from my High School.

Jerky

Is everyone too stupid to realize that Allahu Akbar means "God is Great", not "Kill the Jews"? If everyone wasn't so damn paranoid, this would be a funny-haha story, not a criminal act (which will certainly be dismissed).

MFer

I dunno ... when some people have been known to chant "Allahu Akbar" right before they blow themselves up in a crowded place ... preferably full of Jews. Yeah, I guess that's real funny ha ha.

I mean, it is like why would anyone get all bent out of shape about something as innocuous as "ARBEIT MACHT FREI". It just means, works sets you free, right? Right? Dumbass.

NannyState

This idiotic brat will likely never attend a wedding again.

mocanlagunas

Can someone explain me why the catering company is liable? It's not like they do it on all their events... it's just a stupid moron that happened to be working with them. You cannot do anything about morons until they f*ck up, right?

Mr Mel

How does a waiter get his hands on the PA system?

ANGRYGOD11

A large formal catered wedding cost tens of thousands of dollars and often over a year to prepare. If he messed it up with a prepared recording, isn't the same as bringing a gallon of gas, matches and a crowbar to burn someone's new car?

S.D.

Um, No...

Outright Destruction Vs. creating an atmosphere of Panic is quite two different things.

In any case, If they aren't I think the family should sue him too.

ANGRYGOD11

Maybe...

I'm not saying it's the same exact thing, but he showed malicious intent by preparing a stunt to screw up an expensive formal event just because he felt like it and had the access.

Isn't creating an Atmosphere of Panic (good name for a band, by the way)an outright destruction of a very expensive event?

Spirit of 76

If someone creates an atmosphere of panic, they could be charged with reckless endangerment as well. That stupid stunt could have started a stampede where people could have been trampled to death.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Er-rsicYJg&NR=1

Even South Koreans dont support Israel, only USA supports Israel

Mr Mel

yeah, that really hurts.

jchez

Horribly disrespectful and low. However, I had to laugh. Comedy is always about watching somebody else suffer as in Candid Camera or America's Funniest Home Videos (banana peels, hits to the crotch, etc).

Splicer

It's sad how a small group of people have completely tainted the view of one of the many bullshit religions of the world. Catholics have pedophiles, Muslims have terrorists. Atheists like me think it's all crap.

thefacts

Atheists had - just to name a couple - Stalin and Hitler, who killed tens of millions. Atheists' shit smells just like everyone else's, despite your stereotyping billions of humanity in one sentence.

Splicer

Hitler was an atheist? That's news to me. His entire death cult was steeped in religion. As for Stalin -- replacing one religion or doctrine with another one headed by a guy with a long beard is just the same thing with a different name.