Ryanair, an Irish airline is facing a public backlash for its failure to remove a man from a plane after hurled racist insults at a fellow passenger. The man was filmed by a fellow passenger, David Lawrence who later uploaded the video on social media.
In the video, he was heard calling the woman the 77-year old black woman an “ugly black bastard”, and shouting “don’t talk to me in a foreign language” when she spoke to him in English in a Jamaican accent.
The airline has since received backlash and customers have threatened to boycott the airline which did not remove the passenger from the flight but instead asked the woman from her seat even after her daughter said that she was diabled.
Ryanair staff appear to have taken the least confrontational approach, to the detriment of an elderly window and the appeasement of a racist arsehole #ryanair https://t.co/WGDTnCCzMu
— Allison Morris (@AllisonMorris1) October 21, 2018
Ok boycott @Ryanair if they think it’s ok for a racist man to abuse an elderly black woman and remain on the plane. It’s 63 years since Rosa Parks said “No “ to sitting on the back of the Bus and we ain’t going back. https://t.co/IYczabgjMJ
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) October 21, 2018
This is unacceptable. There is no place for this kind’ve behaviour. When @ryanair does nothing, they ARE doing something. By doing nothing, they are accommodating racism. I won’t be supporting a company with these values and will choose to boycott. I encourage all to do the same.
— Huw Samuel (@HuwSamuel) October 21, 2018
The racist man replied, “I don’t care whether she’s f****** disabled or not. If I tell her to get out she gets out.”
The woman’s daughter said she will never fly Ryanair again, and added that had it been a black person behaving that way, “police would have been called and we would have been kicked off of the flight.”
Ryanair posted a tweet saying that they have reported the incident to the police.
Statement: We are aware of this video and have reported this matter to Essex Police
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) October 21, 2018
However, according to the Essex Police, “this incident, which we were made aware of this morning, is believed to have taken place on a plane at Barcelona airport. Essex police takes prejudice-based crime seriously and we want all incidents to be reported. We are working closely with Ryanair and the Spanish authorities on the investigation.”