--- title: Donald Trump: Clip Debunks Claim NJ Muslims Cheered 9/11 description: MTV released a clip that Trump has cited as evidence that New Jersey Muslims celebrated 9/11, but it disproves his point canonical: https://time.com/4131439/donald-trump-muslims-9-11-video/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-01T19:57:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:51.523Z article:section: Politics og:title: Video Debunks Trump's Claim That American Muslims Cheered 9/11 og:description: Trump released a short clip of the same video og:url: https://time.com/4131439/donald-trump-muslims-9-11-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Video Debunks Trump's Claim That American Muslims Cheered 9/11 twitter:description: Trump released a short clip of the same video twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Video Debunks Trump's Claim That Thousands of American Muslims Celebrated 9/11 > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ac502570-5bba-4720-b643-b6ccc4300a39&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 1, 2015 7:57 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 1, 2015 7:57 PM UTC Donald Trump has refused to back down from his assertion that he saw “[thousands and thousands](http://time.com/4123736/donald-trump-911-arabs/)” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But MTV just released a clip of the footage that Trump himself has cited as evidence, and it disproves his point rather than supports it. On the morning of December 1, Trump tweeted a short clip from the MTV documentary “Fight For Your Rights: Aftermath of Terror” which aired on November 17, 2001. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/671716793195634688) The clip shows talk show host and Guardian Angels CEO Curtis Sliwa talking about people cheering the 9/11 attacks. But later in the day, [MTV released a longer clip](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/01/3726932/trump-video-muslims-celebrating/) that shows Sliwa’s bit in context, and largely debunks Trump’s claim. In the extended videos, there are multiple contemporary news clips with anchors saying they couldn’t find evidence of people celebrating in the wake of the attack. “There has been no jubilee in the streets,” Marty Barnes, mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, said in a press conference at the time, which is excerpted in the MTV documentary. The one person interviewed who did see celebrations, Emily Acevedo, who lived in Paterson, said at the time she only saw “12 or 13” people celebrating, and that “they were kids. They didn’t know what they were doing.” MTV contacted Acevedo on November 25, 2015 to revisit that night, and she said the kids hitting public property with sticks was “not anything any different than would’ve happened on any other summer night.” **Read Next**: [_Donald Trump Is In Favor Of Legally Requiring American Muslims to Register on a Database_](http://time.com/4121511/donald-trump-muslims-database-terrorism/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4131439/donald-trump-muslims-9-11-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4131439/donald-trump-muslims-9-11-video/"},"headline":"Video Debunks Trump's Claim That Thousands of American Muslims Celebrated 9/11","datePublished":"2015-12-01T19:57:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:51.523Z","description":"Trump released a short clip of the same video","url":"https://time.com/4131439/donald-trump-muslims-9-11-video/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Terrorism","Muslims","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4131439/donald-trump-muslims-9-11-video/","name":"Video Debunks Trump's Claim That Thousands of American Muslims Celebrated 9/11"}}]}] ```