“Southwest does not condone Employees sharing their personal political opinions while on the job serving our Customers, and one Employee’s individual perspective should not be interpreted as the viewpoint of Southwest and its collective 54,000 Employees,” the airline said in a statement on Sunday.
The controversy was caused by reports that a pilot on the Southwest flight from Houston, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday, said ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ though the loudspeaker – a recent conservative meme that has become code for ‘F**k Joe Biden’. Associated Press reporter Colleen Long who happened to be on that flight claimed she was almost “removed” after trying to ask the pilot about using the phrase.
The airline’s seemingly feeble response to the incident had many calling for the pilot to be publicly identified and fired, while others called for boycotts of the airline as a whole. Some went as far as to compare voicing anti-Joe Biden remarks to declaring allegiance with terrorists.
Southwest’s fresh promise to address the situation directly with the employee in question, following an internal probe, triggered even more backlash and demands for a much stronger statement and concrete action.
Some even called on the Federal Aviation Administration to get involved and check the pilot’s mental health.
The airline also had its fair share of criticism from conservatives, for allegedly “cowering to the left-wing mob.”
At the same time some noted that the same people now calling for the Southwest pilot to be fired, spent the last four years “tweeting nothing but F*** Trump.”
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