If you were logged in to social media today, you likely saw that Delta Airlines and Adam Saleh were trending all day and continue to trend into the evening hours. It all started when popular YouTube personality Saleh, who has over 2 million subscribers, and a friend were on a Delta flight that was set to take off from Heathrow Airport in London to JFK Airport in New York.
While Saleh was speaking to his mother in Arabic (as he always does before taking off) some passengers told him to stop. What happened after that has been debated back and forth all day long, as some think that Saleh was pulling another airline prank, the basis for his hit YouTube channel.
In Saleh’s account of what transpired on his Delta airlines flight on Wednesday, he says “I speak to my mom on the phone every flight, she only speaks Arabic.” He detailed further that a female passenger sitting in front of him heard him speaking Arabic and angrily told him that he should be speaking English instead. Saleh responded by telling the woman he could speak any language he wanted and that’s when her husband interfered and started screaming obscenities at him.
CBS News reports that around 20 passengers, also on the Delta flight, said that Adam Saleh and his friend made them feel uncomfortable, which prompted the flight captain to get involved. CBS reports: “The pair were approached by the captain, who Saleh said “seemed ashamed and embarrassed” when he asked them to leave the plane because of the other passengers’ complaints.”
Delta Airlines released a lengthy statement addressing the incident involving Saleh:
“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.
“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.”
Salah and his friend were put on another flight, but not before he stated on Twitter that they were searched twice before boarding the new flight for a total of 30 minutes each time.
According to the NY Times, some passengers aboard the flight backed up Saleh’s account. He told the Times that while his You Tube channel is known for pranks and for exposing stereotypes against Muslims, that the footage he shot aboard the plane was real.
“The only thing I can say is, I would never film a phone video,” he told the Times. “That’s when it’s really serious, and I must film.”
You can check out the FULL video of the incident BELOW along with Saleh’s response.
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YouTube Star Adam Saleh Kicked Off Delta Flight For Speaking Arabic was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
