'Everyone Is A Taxpayer': Female Ethiopian Airlines Passenger Protests After Being Kicked Out Of Flight To Get Minister In Her Seat; Video Viral

Ethiopian Airlines faces backlash after forcibly removing Somali woman in viral video

A Somali woman argues with a flight attendant on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET308 after being told to disembark, claiming favoritism towards a minister. The incident, captured by CNN correspondent Larry Madowo, has sparked outrage and calls for a boycott of the airline. (CREDIT Larry Madowo via X)

In the video, the woman can be seen valiantly fighting for space in the flight. In the video that was apparently first posted on TikTok and later spread to other sites, the woman can be seen talking to the aircraft crew, who do not appear to be interested in accommodating the female passenger.

In a video that is now going viral, a female passenger on Ethiopian Airlines was allegedly forced to deplane after the airline made way for a minister, who was then designated to fly in her space

Ethiopian Airlines is under fire after a Viral Video showed a young Somali woman being forcefully removed from flight ET308 on July 19. The incident, which has sparked widespread outrage on social media, particularly within the Somali community, has led to calls for a boycott of the airline.

The video captures the woman arguing with flight attendants as they attempt to remove her from the plane. She can be heard saying, "I don't care, that's not my problem," and "Do not touch me," while insisting that a minister, who allegedly took her seat, should be removed instead.

Larry Madowo, a CNN correspondent on the flight, tweeted about the incident, calling it "disgraceful" and noting that the minister did nothing as the woman was forcibly offloaded. Adam Aw Hirsi, a Somali scholar and former minister, also condemned the airline and called for legal action, criticizing both the airline and the business class passengers who did not support the woman. The video has been viewed 5.4 million times at the time of writing.

Woman Kicked Out of Plane 

In the video, the woman can be seen valiantly fighting for space in the flight. In the video that was apparently first posted on TikTok and later spread to other sites, the woman can be seen talking to the aircraft crew, who do not appear to be interested in accommodating the female passenger.

In the video, the woman can be seen saying that everyone is a taxpayer and so she should be allowed to sit. According to the user who posted it on their personal profile, the airline did not budge and the minister did not even move to assuage the situation.

According to the user, the flight was scheduled to go to Nairobi. The woman, who was visibly worried at the prospect of being disembarked, was allegedly displaned from the flight as late as 11:30 PM.

Ethiopian Airlines Issues Statement

Airline issued a statement in the matter through X. Through a post-thread, the airline said, "A misapprehension arose among the standby passengers,leading to the distorted belief that their seats had been allocated to a VIP. This is not the case, and the circulating video does not reflect the true sequence of events."

The airline claimed that this was a case of overbooking and the entire picture or truth had not been revealed. 

The airline blamed the passengers instead and said, "just a few minutes before the scheduled departure time of the flight. The Boarding Agent advised them that the flight was full and they would be protected on the next flight."

The airline further added, "However, they ignored the advice of the Boarding Agent and attempted to board the aircraft, bypassing security personnel at the boarding gate. Our staff members courteously asked these passengers to disembark. One passenger acquiesced to this request"

The airline termed the whole incident a misaprehension and chose to not answer the question surrounding the minister. In fact, the responses on X do not have even a single mention of the Ethiopian Minister.

Reacting to the official response from the airline, the man who filmed the event and posted the happenings online said, "Ethiopian Airlines responds to the video, claiming there was a “misapprehension” about a minister taking her seat."