Men kicked off plane for speaking Arabic

  • 22/12/2016
Adam Saleh close up in cap getty
Saleh and his friend were removed from the cabin after a 'disturbance' (Getty)

The man who accused an airline of Islamophobia has a history of faking stunts for his YouTube channel. 

Delta Airlines removed two men from a plane at London's Heathrow Airport before takeoff, one of them being Muslim Youtube star Adam Saleh. Mr Saleh has accused the airline of removing them because he spoke to his mother on the phone in Arabic, leading to passenger complaints. 

Saleh appeared in a Twitter video retweeted more than 440,000 times. Speaking from the plane on Wednesday he said: "We're getting kicked out because we spoke a different language...Six white people against us bearded men."

Back in 2014, Mr Saleh staged a video called  'RACIAL PROFILING EXPERIMENT' that reached almost two million views on YouTube.

In it, Saleh pretended to get in a fight with a friend in front of a police officer in Western-style clothing, and then reenacted the same fight dressed in traditional Muslim garb. Police supposedly only intervened when the men looked like Muslims. Several media outlets fell for the hoax.

In a statement, Delta said two customers were removed from Delta Flight 1 after a disturbance in the cabin prompted more than 20 customers to express their discomfort.

The airline said it spoke to the two passengers it removed and rebooked them. Delta said it would speak with the crew and other passengers when the flight landed at New York's Kennedy Airport on Wednesday afternoon.

It said the airline had an obligation to ensure a safe environment and promised an update once it had more information.

"We take all allegations of discrimination seriously and we are gathering all of the facts before jumping to any conclusion. Our culture requires treating everyone with respect," the statement said.

Airlines have in recent months battled negative publicity over incidents in which Muslim passengers were removed from flights.

In November, a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump was allowed to stay on a domestic US flight after going on an expletive-filled rant.

He was later slapped with a lifetime ban from Delta flights.

Reuters/Newshub.