Campaign launched to #BoycottDelta after YouTube star thrown off plane for ‘speaking Arabic’
Adam Saleh was forced to exit the plane on Wednesday morning
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Your support makes all the difference.Within hours of a YouTube prankster being kicked off of a Delta flight, a social media campaign has emerged to boycott the airline.
Delta Air Lines asked YouTube star Adam Saleh and his friend, Slim, to exit a flight heading to New York Wednesday morning. Mr Saleh, who has 1.6 million subscribers to his channel, tweeted a video during the exchange with flight security along with updates after his removal. He claims they removed him for speaking Arabic to his mother.
“We spoke a different language on a plane and now we’re getting kicked out,” he says in the video posted to both his Twitter and Facebook pages.
The video has received over 300,000 retweets and prompted the hashtag #BoycottDelta. It started trending on Twitter shortly after.
Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant told The Independent in a statement that they removed Mr Saleh after multiple passengers complained about a disturbance. When asked about the boycott, they said they take allegations of discrimination seriously.
“We take all allegations of discrimination seriously and we are gathering all of the facts before jumping to any conclusion," the company said in a statement. "Our culture requires treating everyone with respect. Furthermore, Delta people are trained to and frequently handle conflicts between passengers."
“Maintaining a safe, comfortable and orderly onboard environment is paramount for every flight and requires the cooperation of all of our customers in conjunction with adherence to directions from our crew members. This is a Delta policy and is required by U.S. regulations as well as others governing aviation worldwide.”
It added: “Two customers were removed from Delta flight 1 departing London-Heathrow today after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.
“We have spoken with the customers who were removed; they were rebooked on another flight. Plans are in place to immediately speak with our crew and other passengers when the flight lands this afternoon. We will provide an update once we have more information.”
People familiar with Mr Saleh’s YouTube videos believe the disturbance was a prank. Mr Saleh, who tweeted about a prank at an airport on December 19, has posted videos of attempting to get kicked off of flights in the past.
On December 16, Tigerair debunked a video the 23-year-old made claiming to have smuggled himself into the Melbourne Airport terminal via suitcase.
Airport footage shows Mr Saleh walking through security, the New Zealand Herald reported.
“Anything over 32kg gets rejects and our friendly staff would have stepped in to assist with options, as indeed they did. We have the footage,” the airline said in a statement.
Even so, those tweeting #BoycottDelta claim that Mr Saleh faced more scrutiny by Delta because he is Muslim.
In November, people called for a boycott against the airline for not reprimanding a Donald Trump supporter who called women on the flight “Hillary Bitches.” but removing a Muslim couple three months earlier.
The Washington Post reported that Delta removed the couple because a passenger felt uneasy after hearing Nazia and Faisal Ali use the word “Allah.”
“We had been in our seats for 45 minutes,” Ali told the Cincinnati Enquirer: “The ground agent said, ‘Can you step out with me? We’d like to ask you a few questions.’ So I said, ‘Do you want us to get our things?’ And he said, ‘Yes, please grab all of your personal belongings. You’re not going to be on this flight.’ ”
United Kingdom resident Habeeb Hussain created a Change.org petition in support of Mr Saleh.
“If this was a Caucasian on an Emirates flight and they were treated in this matter, it would be all over the news within minutes!” the petition read.
At least 80 people have signed it.