American YouTube personality Adam Saleh, 23, was allegedly kicked off his flight by Delta Air Lines for speaking Arabic to his mom on the phone right before takeoff.
The internet sensation took to Twitter to release a shocking video of himself being escorted off the plane by a flight attendant. A few hours later, the video went viral and has now been retweeted more than 80K times on Twitter with viewers expressing their disgust after watching the incident.
In the video, the star yelled, “I cannot believe my eyes … I spoke a word and you said you feel uncomfortable. Why are you guys doing that? … Just because I spoke a different language.”
Delta Air Lines responded Wednesday to accusations from Saleh. In a statement, Delta said, “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.”
Delta also mentioned they were responding to a series of tweets sent by Saleh before departure. Saleh has 3.6 million subscribers developed from producing comedic, prank videos and personal vlogs on Muslim life.
In a recent interview with CBSN, he said he spoke to his mom in Arabic because it’s the only language she understands. He also added that while on the phone with her, a passenger in the seat in front of him turned around and told him he ought to speak English. Saleh said he told her he can speak whatever language he likes, and her husband responded by screaming at him.
Just minutes later, several other passengers expressed that they too felt uncomfortable. Saleh said, following an overwhelming number of passenger complaints, the captain asked him and his companion to leave the flight.
Following the harsh treatment, Saleh released updates via his Twitter account informing his following of his plans to speak with a lawyer and had boarded a different fight. The airline he chose was not disclosed.
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