Taraji P. Henson (Genevieve/Flickr)
Taraji P. Henson has stepped into the fallout over Delta Airlines’ failure to remove an unruly passenger who supported President-elect Donald Trump.
On Nov. 22, Facebook user Emma Baum posted a now-viral video of a white man celebrating Trump’s new role and referring to women as “Hillary b——.” The insult relates to female supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The incident occurred on a flight that day from Atlanta to Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Didn’t take long to notice that I’m back in ‘Merica…
Posted by Emma Baum on Tuesday, November 22, 2016
The following day on Twitter, Henson responded to actress Gabrielle Union’s tweet about changing her flight because of the video.
Flying @delta tomorrow. Pls let me know if I need to change my flt and take my business elsewhere. https://t.co/xUJIIHoQ9V
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) November 26, 2016
The star of the upcoming movie “Hidden Figures” urged Union to switch airlines with the hashtag #EffDelta.
CHANGE YOUR FLIGHT SIS I DID!!! #EffDelta https://t.co/Pf6Idsi324
— Taraji P. Henson (@tarajiphenson) November 26, 2016
The “Empire” actress also retweeted other Twitter users who disparaged Delta’s handling of past discriminatory incidents.
UNACCEPTABLE when people are detained for headwear & hairstyles. There went those @Delta tix. I'll be flying where I feel safer! !
— Same Ol Daune! (@DaunieDaune) November 26, 2016
Muslims have been kicked off flights merely for speaking among themselves or on their cell phones in Arabic.
— Jalane Smash the Fash Schmidt 👩🏾🏫📢 (@Jalane_Schmidt) November 26, 2016
Each retweet contained the #EffDelta hashtag.
#EffDelta https://t.co/clMZmY63VL
— Taraji P. Henson (@tarajiphenson) November 26, 2016
But Henson didn’t stop there. She also retweeted fellow “Empire” star Vivica A. Fox’s message for the Atlanta-based airline.
WOW! U see @realDonaldTrump what your campaign is all about? U created this! https://t.co/pXulDebzod @Delta unacceptable behavior! Fix it ;(
— Vivica A. Fox (@MsVivicaFox) November 26, 2016
Henson noted Delta should have responded when the passenger began acting recklessly.
The time to do something was when he was reckless. Too late #DeltacanKickRocksIntheClouds 😒 https://t.co/TvqGU2RBzu
— Taraji P. Henson (@tarajiphenson) November 26, 2016
As a result of the controversy, Delta issued the following statement.
“We are sorry to our customers who experienced this disruption,” it said. “We have followed up with the teams involved and all agree that this customer should not have been allowed to continue on the flight. Our responsibility for ensuring all customers feel safe and comfortable with Delta includes requiring civil behavior from everyone. The behavior we see in this video does not square with our training or culture and follow-up will continue so we can better ensure our employees will know they will be fully supported to make the right decisions when these issues arise.”
This is the only latest racial incident the airline has dealt with in the past two months. In October, Atlanta Black Star reported Delta came under fire for refusing the help of a Black doctor. A flight attendant did not believe OB/GYN Tamika Cross held a medical license and instead allowed a white doctor to tend to an ailing patient. The airline later released a statement that backed their employee’s actions rather than apologize to Dr. Cross.
