The Irish ultra-low-cost airline Ryanair is under fire after its crew failed to remove a white man who hurled racist insults at an elderly black woman while boarding a flight from Barcelona, Spain, to London on Friday. The incident was captured on video by a fellow passenger, David Lawrence, and has gone viral, with more than 5 million views on Facebook and 600,000 on YouTube as of Monday. It's unclear what, if anything, triggered the tirade.
The video shows the man, in a window seat of the Boeing 737, shouting a series of vile racist and sexist insults toward the woman, who's in the aisle seat. The caption Lawrence posted with the video indicated the man did not want to sit next to her. A Ryanair crew member eventually moved the woman to another seat, while the man was allowed to remain in his seat. Ryanair has released a one-sentence statement: "We are aware of this video and have reported this matter to Essex Police."The reaction on social media to the tirade was swift and overwhelmingly critical of Ryanair, even spawning the hashtag #RyanairRacism.Other have also pledged to boycott the airline, with the hashtag #BoycottRyanair.
The video shows the man, in a window seat of the Boeing 737, shouting a series of vile racist and sexist insults toward the woman, who's in the aisle seat. The caption Lawrence posted with the video indicated the man did not want to sit next to her. A Ryanair crew member eventually moved the woman to another seat, while the man was allowed to remain in his seat. Ryanair has released a one-sentence statement: "We are aware of this video and have reported this matter to Essex Police."The reaction on social media to the tirade was swift and overwhelmingly critical of Ryanair, even spawning the hashtag #RyanairRacism.Other have also pledged to boycott the airline, with the hashtag #BoycottRyanair.