Airline chief, other condemn crew racist chant, BA sacks stewardess
Condemnation has trailed the a racist rant by a British Airways cabin crew just as the carrier sacked a stewardess who posted a racist Snapchat rant attacking Nigerian passengers after she was called in for a two-hour meeting with bosses.
A top official of the airline who pleaded anonymity told Woleshadare.net that the lady’s action was a joke taken too far, adding that the airline’s hierarchy had taken an action to ask her to leave the company.
Another cabin crew with an European airline said no airline would tolerate racist comments, especially when the carrier has a reputation as BA.
The source said the video she posted may have been taken as a joke, but noted that she acted inappropriately.
Joanne Wickenden sparked outrage after recording the racist clip in her BA uniform before flying from London Heathrow to Abuja on Friday night.
In a statement yesterday, the airline said ‘she no longer works for British Airways’, adding: ‘We expect the utmost professionalism from our staff when they are representing British Airways.’
The 23-year-old, who wants to be an actress, told friends ‘I am not a racist’ and claimed the sickening video was just a joke.
According to her, ‘I have been framed by another BA employee. They were encouraging me, egging me on to say things. They were recording me and sent it around to our friends.’
She added: ‘I don’t want to fly anymore.’ A friend said that the other colleague wanted her to impersonate what goes on on the flight.
A source told MailOnline that the video – which was captioned ‘I can’t cope with this flight’ – was circulated among ‘horrified’ BA cabin crew who are ‘very concerned’.
The airline had launched an investigation into her action after she filmed a video of herself making racist comments about Nigerians.
The woman filmed herself in her car while she was wearing her British Airways flight attendant uniform in preparation for her flight from London Heathrow to Abuja on Friday night. She posted the one-minute video on Snapchat, causing members of the British Airways cabin crew to be “very concerned.”
“All the Nigerians are gonna be there like ‘gimme Coca Cola, gimme me beef, why you have no beef left? I want beef.’
“And I’m just gonna be there like , ‘Sorry sir, we ran out of beef.’
“All the Nigerians are going to be asking for f**king upgrades because their b**s are in their way. Big d***s like this swinging from side to side,” she said.
A shocked crew member reported the video to the Daily Mail.
The airline announced that it would launch an investigation into the matter.
“We expect the utmost professionalism from our staff when they are representing British Airways. We are investigating this video,” it said.
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