U.S.-based airline giant Delta Airlines is under fire for allegedly kicking out a passenger for speaking a word in Arabic on the phone with his mother, while the issue went viral as the passenger has over 1.6 million followers on his YouTube channel.
We got kicked out of a @Delta airplane because I spoke Arabic to my mom on the phone and with my friend slim... WTFFFFFFFF please spread pic.twitter.com/P5dQCE0qos
— Adam Saleh (@omgAdamSaleh) December 21, 2016
In the video, several passengers are also seen cheering as Saleh is being escorted out, while the Youtuber says that several others had also sworn at him.
The video was retweeted more than 154,000 times and liked by 95,000 followers.
After the incident, Saleh's Twitter followers quickly jumped by thousands in a couple of hours, reaching over 250,000. He also has over 2.2 million subscribers in Youtube.
Delta is yet to comment Daily Sabah's questions regarding the incident.
In a statement released on its media hub, Delta said: "Upon landing the crew was debriefed and multiple passenger statements collected. Based on the information collected to date, it appears the customers who were removed sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior, including shouting. This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight. While one, according to media reports, is a known prankster who was video recorded and encouraged by his traveling companion, what is paramount to Delta is the safety and comfort of our passengers and employees. It is clear these individuals sought to violate that priority."
Several posts on Facebook and Reddit from claiming they were also passengers on the same flight also said that Saleh and his friend started shouting with their fists raised, and continued their behavior despite being warned by other passengers, leading to their removal from the flight.