YouTube star Adam Saleh’s story is shocking – but only if it’s true

I wrote this for The Guardian:

By now if feels like everyone must have watched YouTube personality Adam Saleh being ejected from a Delta Airlines flight. His video of being escorted off a plane has been viewed over 31m times on Facebook. Saleh, whose YouTube channel has over two million subscribers, claimed in the video that he was being removed from the flight because other passengers felt “uncomfortable” with him speaking Arabic to his mother over the phone.

Delta has since issued a statement justifying their action by explaining that Saleh and his friend “sought to disrupt the cabin with provocative behavior, including shouting.” Meanwhile, Saleh wrote on Twitter that he and his friend are “pranksters, and it sounds like the boy who cried wolf but today you can clearly see its [sic] as real as it gets.” So, the statements solve nothing.

If the allegation of being thrown off a plane for speaking Arabic is true, then Saleh is right to be outraged. We must all be outraged at such blatant bigotry.

But pardon me for being skeptical….

Read why I’m skeptical here.