Youtuber Adam Saleh and his friend, “Slim,” were kicked off a Delta plane today because they claim other passengers had an issue with the two of them speaking Arabic. According to Adam, he spoke Arabic on the phone to his mother and then he started talking to Slim. That’s when the passengers started complaining.
After he got word that he was being kicked off the plane, Adam grabbed his phone and started recording a Facebook video which has since gone viral. We’d like to point out that so far we only have one side of the story, but if Adam and his friend are telling the truth, than this is pretty absurd. Maybe they were recording a video for part of their vlog? I don’t know, I’m just guessing. But one thing I can say is that while none of Adam’s YouTube videos are pranks like “Fake Terrorist Attack” or “Leaves Fake Bomb On Steps And RUNS,” he has been outed as a YouTuber who’s staged multiple scenarios–including one meant to smear the NYPD and another where he pretended to ship himself in luggage from Melbourne to Sydney (also a hoax).
So while I definitely believe that Adam and Slim’s use of Arabic could have been a major problem for some of the passengers, we’re going to withhold our judgement on this one until we get the full story.
Update 11:45 AM–Delta has issued a statement:
“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.”
Back to this video, though, the worst part about it is that you can even hear people in the background of the plane yelling “bye” sarcastically. Obviously tensions are a little high after yesterday’s attack on the Berlin Christmas market, but come on people. That’s some low sh*t.
After getting kicked off the plane, Adam filmed a periscope video where he was clearly dismayed and upset at the situation.
DELTA KICKEDF us out https://t.co/R9t9WObNLb
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
Update: Adam says that Delta put him on another plane to NYC after being checked by police and TSA for 30 minutes.
UPDATE: were now on another flight with a different airline heading to NYC after being checked for 30 minutes. We land 5:50pm in NYC
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
