Delta Airlines is in hot water after well-known YouTuber Adam Saleh said that he was thrown off a flight just for speaking Arabic to his mother. He posted a video of him and a friend getting thrown off the flight, and it clearly shows multiple passengers happy to see him being thrown off. The outrage over the incident is understandably widespread, but unfortunately Saleh’s reputation as a prankster has a few questioning whether this is another prank. On the other hand, anti-Muslim views are widespread, so there’s a good chance that this isn’t a prank at all.
Delta Airlines in Adam Saleh’s crosshairs
It’s clear that most of the passengers in the plane are either in favor of him being thrown off or don’t voice an opinion in either direction. It’s upsetting to think that racism and fear would still have such a strong hold on the world.
Delta Airlines said in a statement that it removed two passengers from the flight in question and booked them later on another flight following a “disturbance in the cabin.” The airline added that more than 20 passengers said they were uncomfortable with their presence and that it is investigating to see what really happening.
Delta was already in trouble for its handling of a white passenger who went on a pro-Donald Trump, anti-Hillary Clinton rant while on a plane. He was allowed to stay on that flight, but later the airline banned the man for life. Also some social media users say that other non-white passengers have been kicked off fights after complaints from passengers.
YouTuber’s reputation causes some to question video
Adam Saleh is known for the prank videos he posts on YouTube, so some are questioning the details surrounding the video he posted. In this case, seems unlikely that he could have orchestrated a stunt such as this, although perhaps there is a slight chance he could have done a lot more than spoken Arabic to get thrown off the flight. But the good news is that if this wasn’t a prank, it won’t turn into a case of “the boy (except in this case, the man) who cried wolf” because the vast majority of people are taking his side and accepting his word. This is certainly a serious issue that should not be allowed to go on and is no joking matter.
However, some Facebook users are asking for proof of what happened before he and his friend were thrown off the Delta Airlines plane. Some of his previous videos have involved pranks with airplanes. In one video he posted recently, he claimed to have packed himself in a suitcase and flown to Sydney from Melbourne in the suitcase while riding in the baggage hold. However, the airline said later that such a stunt would have been impossible and that he had actually ridden in a seat on the flight.
Earlier this month, he tweeted that some airport workers had recognized him from past prank videos and that he could “get held up or in trouble.”
In defense regarding the video of him getting thrown off the Delta Airlines flight, Saleh told The Guardian that the video clearly shows someone making an obscene gesture at him from the back of the airplane. He added that he wouldn’t joke about something like this and that they have more footage they plan to share. Certainly this is one incident that people will be talking about for some time.
Here’s the video Saleh shared on Facebook which shows him and a friend being thrown off the Delta Airlines flight:
