Leave it to poor POTUS’ pals at Fox News to appropriate a racialized term for when people in power abuse it when dealing with disenfranchised people.
But I may be getting ahead of myself.
Let me explain.
Rupert Murdoch’s Republican-loving conservative news outlet spun a story about a clout-chasing Southwest flight attendant lampooning a Trump-supporting passenger on social media—and branding it “profiling” instead of what it was—just shaming.
Their story, which is a pick-up of an article in USA Today, is headlined: “Southwest flight attendant allegedly profiled Trump supporter in Facebook post; airline investigating.”
It definitely works for dog-whistling clickbait.
But “who are me to judge?” to quote one of the many zany zingers of social media-sensation Andrew Caldwell, who also released a song of the same title.
We all gotta feed the beast. But I digress.
The flight attendant, whose identity hasn’t been revealed, allegedly encountered a passenger on a recent flight and later shared a picture of the man and his shirt to his own personal Facebook account.
The photograph showed the man wearing a T-shirt reading “Trump 45” and “Suck it up, buttercup.”
“Someone did NOT get my most Positively Outrageous Service today on my flight,” the flight attendant reportedly wrote, adding the hashtags #notgoingtosuckitup,” “#dumpTrump” and “#eeew.”
Fox News reports that the “flight attendant shared a caption that reportedly suggested the passenger was treated differently than others on the flight.”
The budget airline got wind of the flight attendant’s personal Facebook post after a Chicago man posted a screengrab of the post to Southwest’s Facebook page.
“We aim to provide outstanding service to all who travel with us,” Southwest said in a statement to media outlets. “The post in question does not reflect the inclusive environment we strive to provide for our Customers and Employees.”
Before Southwest removed the screenshot of the flight attendant’s post from its website, USA Today reported that several of the responses blasted the airline for the attendant’s behavior, with some using the hashtag #BoycottSouthwest.
The airline said the issue will be investigated and addressed “internally.”
The thirsty-ass flight attendant reportedly removed the original post from Facebook as well and changed his name on the platform.
I hope he leaves the social media stunts to the professionals or the people who have nothing to lose.
It’s definitely not worth risking your livelihood over, bruh.