Muslim YouTube star kicked off Delta flight for speaking Arabic

December 22, 2016

New Delhi, Dec 22: A YouTube star known for filming elaborate hoaxes was escorted off a Delta flight on Wednesday morning after he claimed that other passengers complained when they heard him speaking in Arabic.

salehAdam Saleh, a 23-year-old YouTube star from New York, posted multiple videos to Twitter and Periscope on Tuesday, showing himself being escorted from a plane by Delta flight attendants.

Saleh said in the videos that after passengers heard him speaking Arabic, they “felt uncomfortable” and called flight attendants. However, while it is clear that he was removed from the flight at London's Heathrow airport, the circumstances leading up to the video – retweeted more than 644,000 times – are not known and cannot be verified.

Saleh has created videos in the past that involved staged scenes on airplanes and with actors playing authority figures.

Saleh was on a flight from London to New York with his friend Slim Albaher, another YouTube personality, who was also escorted off the plane.

“They kicked us off the plane because a lady, because a lot of people felt uncomfortable,” Saleh said. “Delta Air Lines just kicked us out for speaking Arabic.”

Saleh told the Guardian that he was calling his mother before his flight from Heathrow on Wednesday morning.

“Usually before I take off I speak to my mom,” he said. “My mom is 66 years old and she only speaks Arabic, so I was speaking to her in Arabic – it was a 30-second phone call.”

After the phone call, he said, he was speaking with Albaher in Arabic and in English when “this lady that was sitting maybe four seats ahead of us turns around and says:Oh my, you need to speak English, I'm feeling very uncomfortable.'” Saleh said after another passenger defended the two, an older man the woman was travelling with also got involved.

According to Saleh, he said: “Chuck them off the f-ing plane!” before other men stood up and called for the captain.

The woman who originally complained told the captain: “We feel uncomfortable – something happened in Germany. If they don't leave, I leave,” according to Saleh.

Saleh said the captain then asked to speak to them outside, which is when he started filming.

Saleh, who has millions of followers subscribed to his YouTube channels, posted numerous times from an airport in London where he said Delta had asked them to wait. His latest tweet said they had been rebooked on another flight to New York with a different airline after going through the security check a second time.

Saleh is known for orchestrating pranks in his YouTube videos. He recently created a video that appeared to show himself traveling from Melbourne to Sydney inside a suitcase in the plane's baggage hold. The airline later said that Saleh had sat in a regular seat on the flight and that travelling via the baggage section would have been impossible.

Saleh and a colleague admitted that another video was exaggerated after it went viral and its authenticity was questioned. The 2014 video appeared to show a New York police officer intervening in an argument when the Muslim men wore “cultural clothing” but ignoring the same men when they were dressed in T-shirts and jeans. Saleh later said the video was a “dramatization of previous events that occurred with us in our traditional clothing while filming in NYC”.

When asked about his previous hoaxes, Saleh defended the authenticity of Wednesday's videos.

“You can exactly see in the video a person sticking a middle finger up at the back, you see a guy defending us. The captain was quiet when I said what had happened,” he told the Guardian. “We wouldn't be here joking around.”

One passenger, who spoke to BuzzFeed News, said he had talked to five passengers who witnessed Saleh's behavior. They questioned whether he had really made a telephone call. Passenger Marvin Avilez also said that witnesses described Saleh's friend prompting him to say Arabic words and to pump his fists in the air, which apparently led to an argument with a female passenger.

In the video, several passengers jeered at him as he recorded the incident. Saleh said a few passengers came to his defense. One man can be heard criticizing the flight attendants.

“I spoke to my mom, I told her I'm going to see you in six to seven hours,” he said. “Now everything is literally upside down.”

In later videos, Saleh said that the flight attendants told him and Albaher they were “too loud” and that they asked to speak to them outside the plane.

“All the racist people in there, they were like:We feel uncomfortable,' but because there were like 20 of those racist people, the captain came and he kicked us out,” he said. “I'm not letting this slide … They were screaming at us like we were terrorists.”

Delta released a statement saying “two customers” had been removed from a flight and later rebooked after “a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort”.

The airline later said, after collecting statements from passengers, that the pair “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.”

In a statement, London's Metropolitan police said they were called to Heathrow around 11am, “after two passengers were removed from a plane by crew at Heathrow Airport.

“Officers attended and the passengers were escorted to the terminal where they were assisted with making alternative travel arrangements.

“They were not arrested and no offences were disclosed.”

Saleh later tweeted: “Yes, we're pranksters and it sounds like the boy who cried wolf but today you can clearly see it's as real as it gets.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said that in the last year it had received nearly a dozen reports of Muslim travelers, or travelers who were perceived to be Muslim, being questioned or removed from flights after complaints.

Italian economist Guido Menzio was questioned during a domestic flight when a passenger complained that a differential equation he was working on made her suspicious. Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, a student, was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight and questioned by the FBI in April after a passenger heard him speaking in Arabic to his uncle, he said.

Comments

DOOR WAY TO HE…
 - 
Thursday, 22 Dec 2016

GOOD JOB,,,,,THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERYWHERE IN WORLD,,,THANXS TO RUSSIA CHINA USA INDIA,,,,,,,THIS WILL START EVERYWHERE NO ONE CAN STOP THIS,,,,,SHUD NOT LET HIM FLY AGAIN....HIS BL;OGS ARE THIRD CLASS,,,,ADAM SALEH LOOOOSER,,,,,SHUD HAVE BEEN TROWN OUT OF THE PLANE...

Naren kotian
 - 
Thursday, 22 Dec 2016

Arabic used by 99% global terrorists who are basically blood thirsty. . so they did the right thing ....see how he is approaching chummah gang ....haha

shaji
 - 
Thursday, 22 Dec 2016

This is ridiculous and unacceptable. This is really a intolerance. This will give rise to more radical. Flight attendants should not attend to such hate mongers and instead kick them out of plane and should be penalized for hurting co-passenger's feeling.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 8: Accusing the BJP of running a "fake news factory" at full potential, former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said according to reports only Rs 669 crore of additional flood relief funds are being released by the Centre for the state as opposed to the ruling party's claim of Rs 1,869.85 crore.

Reacting to his attack, the State BJP unit, without clarifying on the actuals of the amount being released, said it believed in speaking the truth and not spreading lies.

Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, tweeted: "Reports from State govt officials tells that only Rs 669 crore of addl funds (sic) are released in 2nd instalment as opposed to the claim of Rs 1870 Cr by @BJP4Karnataka leaders. At a time when manufacturing industries are closing, BJP's fake news factory is running at full potential!!"

Calling BJP leaders "devotees of the God of lies," he said in another tweet that Prime Minister Narendra Modi released an additional Rs 669.85 crore moved by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's plea, taking the total amount to Rs 1,869.85 crore. He said it was funny that they were attempting to depict the total relief amount as 1200+1869.85 equalling to Rs 3,069.85 crore.

Siddaramiahs tweet was in response to Karnataka BJPs tweet last night claiming that the High-Level Committee (HLC) Chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has approved the release of Rs 1869.85 crore as central assistance to the state towards flood relief. This was in addition to Rs 1200 crore already released by the Centre in October 2019, the BJP unit had said.

On Monday, the HLC had approved additional central assistance to seven states affected by floods last year, from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), including Karnataka.

While a PIB release states that Rs 1869.85 crore was approved for Karnataka, according to sources in the state government the figure was inclusive of Rs 1,200 crore released in October. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa while expressing confidence that more funds will be released in later stages, maintained that Rs 1869 crore has been released in addition to Rs 1,200 crore earlier, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"...funds will never be enough, they (central government) will release in stages, they have released such big amount- earlier Rs 1200 crore, now again Rs 1869 crore- I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it," he told reporters here.

Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the state government will press for more funds in the days to come, and the state government will fulfil promises made to those hit by floods.

Karnataka faced two spells of unprecedented rains and floods last year, resulting in widespread damage to life and property, following which the state government had submitted a report to the centre claiming loss was to the tune of about Rs 38,000 crore.

Reacting to Siddaramaiah's attack of "fake news factory" against it, the state BJP tweeted "Ayyo @siddaramaiah Avare, We surrender to You as we are incapable of running Fake News Factory like You or @INCIndia.

We believe in speaking the Truth like Gandhiji, not spreading lies like Goebbels. Kannadigas still remember the "Lies Bhagya (a scheme)" you gave them as CM from 2013-18."

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 12: Swift and strict action by the District Administration has resulted in the district achieving ‘Clean’ week with no new cases of COVID-19 reported for the seventh day in a row.

Meanwhile, in a happy coincidence, the district’s only infant allegedly affected – a ten month old child – was totally cured and discharged from the hospital along with infant’s mother and grandmother who were considered to the primary contacts. They are never tested positive for the virus, it is reported. Health experts attributed this to their natural immunity.

The child is said to have contracted the infection during a family visit to Kasargod, which has turned in to a Covid-19 hot spot. The family which hails from Sajipanadu in Bantwal-taluk had been kept in isolation ever since the child had tested positive on March 25. The quarantine was extended to the entire village as a preventive measure and the District Administration undertook the responsibility to providing essential supplies.

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News Network
July 30,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 30: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palika (BBMP) on Wednesday issued a notice restricting the sacrifice of animals during Bakrid or other religious occasions in certain places.

This year Eid al-Adha or Bakra eid will be celebrated on August 1.

"The administration has prohibited the sacrifice of animals in public roads, footpaths, inside or outside the premises of hospitals/nursing homes, schools and colleges, temples mosques, other religious places or public places," the BBMP said in a public notice.

Person or organisation violating the notice is liable to be prosecuted under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, stated BBMP.

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