Claim Review
Claim: A Muslim cashier allegedly demanded that a 17-year-old Christian teenager take off his cross necklace while shopping at a Scheels sporting goods store located in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Rating: False
Overview
For a considerable length of time, social media users have circulated a fabricated, politically charged narrative involving a teenager and a store clerk. The story is entirely untrue.
The viral post typically describes a scenario set inside a Minnesota sports retailer (frequently misspelled as “Shields”), where a cashier wearing a headscarf allegedly tells a 17-year-old boy to tuck his cross necklace underneath his shirt because it causes her offense. According to the fictional chain letter, the boy refuses, suggests she remove her headscarf in response, and subsequently walks out of the store alongside several supportive customers who abandon their shopping carts in solidarity.
Variations of this text have been repeatedly shared across major online platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X (formerly Twitter).
Investigation
A thorough search of major search engines—such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo—reveals no credible news reporting to substantiate the events described in the viral post.
Instead, fact-checking investigations trace the origins of this rumor back through similar recycled internet hoaxes. For instance, comparable unverified claims have circulated online for years, including a 2016 iteration involving a Walmart location, as well as chain emails dating back to 2003 involving disputes over religious symbols and flag pins.
Local journalism has also debunked the specific rumor regarding the St. Cloud location. The St. Cloud Times addressed the false claim, noting that Kevin Murphy, the general manager of the St. Cloud Scheels store, explicitly confirmed the entire account was “not true.” The reporting also clarified that the store name mentioned in the viral posts is properly spelled Scheels.
Despite being repeatedly debunked over the years, copies of the false post continue to resurface periodically across social media networks.