Fact Check

Did Kevin Bacon Change His Last Name to Appease Muslims?

A multitude of stories exist that claim action was taken on something in order to appease a religious group.

Published April 3, 2015

Updated Sept. 20, 2022
 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
Image Via Gage Skidmore/Flickr
Claim:
Actor Kevin Bacon decided to change his last name because he did not want to offend people of the Muslim faith.

On Sept. 4, 2012, the entertainment website Clash Daily published a bit of satire positing that actor Kevin Bacon was changing his name under pressure from various Muslim groups who were offended by it:

Bowing to pressure from various Muslim groups such as CAIR (Center for American-Islamic Relations), the iconic actor and musician has publically [sic] vowed to change his last name. The reason: although many Muslims, like most Americans, watch films featuring the seemingly omnipresent actor, his last name has become a source of discomfort, as it is a byproduct of pork, a strictly forbidden meat within the Islamic faith.

"Although the Bacon family has held our name humbly and innocuously throughout generations, I had no idea it was causing members of our Muslim community discomfort and impeding their enjoyment of my films and music. It is with great apologies to CAIR and other representatives of the Islamic community that I hereby renounce my surname of 'Bacon,' since it is a source of revulsion to some of the Muslim community. Had I known my name would be provoking the thought of such a cultural dietary taboo, I would have begun my acting career in 1978 under a different name. I extend my sincerest apologies to any members of the Muslim community who may have taken offense to my porcine name." — Kevin Soon-Not-To-Be Bacon

On Aug. 28, 2012, Duh Progressive, another entertainment website, extended this jape by adding the erroneous detail that Bacon was changing his name to Kevin Nine Eleven.

None of this was true. The rumors about Bacon's changing his name to appease the Muslim community started in the summer of 2012 on a couple of satire sites. While these rumors occasionally recirculate around the internet (we received several searches on the topic in April 2015), the actor has still not changed his surname to eliminate any references to cured pork products.

Both Clash Daily and Duh Progressive clearly labeled their articles about Kevin Nine Eleven, a reference to Bacon, as satire:

Duh Progressive is a political satire site. While some of the individual quotes, people and events mentioned on Duh Progressive may be real, most of the content is fictional and should not be taken seriously. Thank you.

Updates

In September 2022, the rating for this story was changed from "False" to "Labeled Satire." Our "Labeled Satire" rating did not exist at the time that this story was originally written.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.