Society and Culture

YouTuber Says He Was Thrown Off a Delta Plane For Speaking Arabic

By  | 

An American YouTube star says he was kicked off a Delta Air Lines flight after several passengers said they felt “uncomfortable” with him speaking to his mother in Arabic on the phone.

Adam Saleh, 23, recorded an emotional video of himself as he and a friend were escorted from a Delta flight bound for New York. In the video, white passengers can be seen waving and saying “bye” as Saleh leaves.

The video has been retweeted over 480,000 times.

“I’m about to cry right now,” says Saleh in the video. “Because we said a word in a different language and there’s six white people against us bearded men.”

While most of the passengers kept quiet during the exchange, one nearby passenger spoke up for the men, saying: “That is insane. That is so crazy. Why are they being kicked off? Why are those white people complaining about them speaking a different language. I’m so upset.”

After being removed from the plane, Saleh continued to update his Twitter followers on the situation.

Eventually Saleh was able to rebook the flight and leave on a different airline.

Delta later confirmed that there had been an incident in a statement that read:

Two customers were removed from this flight and later rebooked after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort. We’re conducting a full review to understand what transpired. We are taking allegations of discrimination very seriously; our culture requires treating others with respect.

However, many people question the video’s authenticity.

Saleh, who is of Arab heritage and Muslim faith, is a self-described “professional idiot.” He has 1.6 million subscribers to his TrueStoryASA YouTube channel, and over 2.2 million subscribers on his Adam Saleh Vlogs channel, which  frequently feature “prank” videos. In fact, in a recent plane-themed prank video, Saleh tricked viewers into thinking he stowed away in a piece of luggage.


This isn’t the first time that Delta has been accused of racial profiling. In October, flight attendants refused to let a black female passenger  assist in an in-flight emergency because they didn’t believe she was a doctor.

And in July, a Muslim couple returning home from an anniversary trip were forced off a flight and back into Paris, because their appearance caused a passenger discomfort.

Since the incident, the hashtag #BoycottDelta began trending on Twitter.

Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans
Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

Share:
Related Items

Comments

comments

Send this to friend