Ryanair passenger filmed insulting elderly black woman
A white Ryanair male passenger was filmed berating an elderly black woman before takeoff. The airline is being slammed for moving the woman and not taking any action against the man.
That didn’t take long.
Police in the English county of Essex have identified the Ryanair passenger who was filmed using racist language against an elderly black seatmate, calling her an “ugly black bastard” and warning the woman not to speak in “a f---ing foreign language” on a flight from Barcelona to Stansted Airport, near London.
The authorities say they are now passing along their information to Spanish officials, and will “continue to provide assistance where necessary” throughout the investigation, The Telegraph reported.
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The 77-year-old woman, who appeared to be the target of the man’s outrage, has already been identified as Delsie Gayle.
Footage of the man’s angry outburst was first shared to Facebook last week by a fellow passenger. According to Gayle’s daughter, who spoke with Huffington Post U.K., the altercation allegedly began after the elderly woman took a little while to rise from her seat and allow the man into the row, as she suffers from arthritis.
Footage of the incident shows the man loudly insisting that the woman be moved from his row, at one point threatening to move her himself.
“I tell you this: If you don’t go to another seat, I’ll put you to another seat,” he said.
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A Ryanair employee attempted to intervene, telling the man he is “acting super rude” and needs to “calm down,” before the woman is moved to a different row.
Critics, however, took to social media to condemn Ryanair for moving the woman rather than the aggressive male passenger, and for allegedly taking no action to detain or remove the man from the flight.
Ryanair initially told Fox News the issue was a “police matter” and declined to comment further.
The carrier also told the BBC that anyone acting in a "disruptive or abusive behavior like this" will be banned from future travel.
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Gayle later told ITV News that the whole ordeal has made her feel “very low,” per The Telegraph.
“He pays his fare, I pay mine. So why did he abuse me for that? Because of the color of my skin. If I had done that to him, I'm sure they would have called the police."