Confused Twitter users waded into religious debates after the unexplained age verification message

People were outraged to find Captain Morgan asking visitors to confirm they were ‘non-Muslim’ before entering their US website.

It provoked intense theological debate online, with some calling it an example of ‘back door Sharia’ and others branding it ‘corporate racism’.

Although Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, there is nothing in US law forbidding the sale of alcohol to Muslims.

The age verification box was spotted on Saturday and quickly taken down, but Captain Morgan did not issue a statement until Metro.co.uk contacted the rum brand.


Twitter users who defended the age verification message were asked if people should also have to swear they aren’t Jewish to order a bacon cheeseburger or if meat shouldn’t be served to Christians on Fridays.

This is what visitors to the US version of the website saw over the weekend

This is terrible, it's perfectly legal for a muslim to drink in the US, this company policy is back door sharia. — Joseph# (@jlebrech) September 21, 2019

like Wendy's should make you swear you are not a Jew if you order a bacon cheeseburger? — Matt (@MatthewGalanty) September 21, 2019

So, to avoid misleading a person, respecting Islam, the company makes sure that they are making a conscious choice. — Alexander Radev (@aitter) September 21, 2019



People also questioned why visitors weren’t asked to confirm if they were not Mormons or baptists, who are also taught to avoid alcohol.

Far from being a case of discrimination or an attempt to appease religious zealots, it turns out a technical error was behind the puzzling message.

A spokesperson for Captain Morgan said: ‘Over the weekend, a misconfiguration on our age-gating files for our US Captain Morgan website meant that people were shown our United Arab Emirates age gate window in error.

‘In the United Arab Emirates it is commonplace for alcohol brands to request verification of this kind, in addition to age-gating, in line with UAE alcohol licensing requirements. We corrected this as quickly as possible.’

Welcome, my friend to the world of Sharia in America. — ArjitDewan (@ARJITDEWAN) September 21, 2019

Plenty of (practicing) Muslims drink… — David (@WallyBanter) September 21, 2019

This is outright Corp Racism. Also isn't it against personal choice of the individual. — Kevin Diamond Rooney (@kevinadiamond) September 21, 2019

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