Delta initially confirmed that two customers were removed from the flight and later rebooked after a "disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort."

In the video, Saleh adds: "This is 2016. Delta airlines is kicking us out," as passengers at the back of the aircraft wave at him and say, "Bye."

"You guys are racist. I cannot believe my eyes. I cannot believe it. I spoke a word in a different language and you say you feel uncomfortable?" he says.

"I'm about to cry right now. Because we said a word in a different language and there's six white people against us bearded men," he says, adding he has an account with the airline.

One passenger nearby speaks up and says, "That is insane. That is so crazy — why are you being kicked out?" as a flight attendant standing close by tells Saleh to step outside, the footage shows.

Airline officials, however, said in a statement that after speaking with crew members of the flight and several passengers, they believe Saleh and his companion tried to cause the disruption with yelling and other behavior.

Marvin Avilez, a passenger on the plane, told BuzzFeed News that after speaking with five passengers who witnessed Saleh’s behavior — Avilez himself didn’t see much of it — he didn’t think Saleh was calling his mother and that the two were instigating other passengers.

Avilez said it didn’t seem like Saleh made a call, adding, “I would want to see his phone records.”

Some passengers told Avilez that Saleh’s friend was prompting Saleh to say words in Arabic and to pump his fists in the air. He said that Saleh repeated those words and pumped his fists four to five times in a “joking manner, without any hint of aggression or anger.” Still, he said, about 20 “people felt very uncomfortable.”

A woman sitting near Saleh told him to shut up and they exchanged words, Alivez added.



A passenger who said he was sitting two seats away from the men had details similar to Alivez, telling BuzzFeed News that Saleh and Albaher never spoke Arabic to each other or on a phone call.

The passenger, who asked to only be referred by his first name, Anthony, told BuzzFeed News that the two men mostly spoke in English. BuzzFeed News has reviewed Anthony’s boarding pass and passport to confirm he was on the flight. Anthony originally posted his account on Reddit.

Anthony said passengers became agitated when Albaher began shouting the phrase “Om Telelot Om” which Anthony recognized as an internet meme which means “Sir, honk your horn, sir,” in Indonesian.

Anthony said Saleh was recording passengers’ reactions as Albaher yelled out the phrase.

Albaher yelled out the phrase again, Anthony said, this time raising his fists in the air. That is when a woman, who Anthony described as being white, blonde, and in her 40s, asked the men to stop yelling.

According to Anthony, the men refused to stop, and then more passengers spoke up, asking them to keep it down. Anthony said Saleh continued to record everything on his phone.

Anthony said the men being kicked off the plane was not racially motivated, but a result of the argument that had erupted.

“They never spoke Arabic,” Anthony said of the men. “My mother is Jamaican, if I thought people were being racist against him … I wouldn’t let anyone get away with that. It wasn’t racial, it was an argument.”

Passenger David William told BuzzFeed News he was sitting directly in front of the two men and said he overheard Saleh ask Albaher if he’s “ready to get this crowd going” and if his cell phone was turned on.

After that, David William — his first name, he refused to provide his last name for the record — said Albaher made hand gestures in the air and said something that he thought was in Arabic, though David William said he was not entirely sure of the language.

David William added that Saleh was recording his friend on his phone, and then asked him to do it again, “a bit louder this time.”

Neither of the men ever made a phone call, said David William, who provided his boarding pass to BuzzFeed News.

Once the men repeated the phrase and the hand gestures, David William said passengers started getting upset, adding that one woman “really let him have it.”

“I think they were more upset with them being loud and chanting and doing it over and over,” David William said. “They could have been speaking any language.”

“A lot of the passengers were upset and eventually, it delayed the flight at least an hour, and a lot of people missed their connections,” David William said. “In my opinion this was a well-planned coordinated stunt to get everybody all riled up right before Christmas and make a post about it on the internet.”

Max Ortega, another passenger on the flight, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that an argument had broken out in cabin.

Ortega — who is seen on the original video standing up for Saleh and Albaher — said he did not hear or see what led up the arguing but “whatever it was, it wasn’t loud enough to cause a disruption in the plane.”

Once he realized something was happening several rows behind him, he turned around and said he saw a woman being aggressive with Saleh, pointing a finger in his face. He then said that other passengers began to “gang up” on Saleh and Albaher, telling them they should get off the flight.

Ortega said he was aware that some people have cast doubts on Saleh’s story because of his past as a YouTube prankster, but he believes the woman who was allegedly being aggressive with them should have also been removed from the plane – even if the incident was a performance.

“I just think that woman should have been taken off [the plane] too,” Orega said. “If you’re going to kick someone off a plane to be questioned, you should get the other person involved off [the plane] too, to explain to authorities what happened.”

Other passengers also said the incident looked staged.



Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson told CBS News speaking Arabic in a plane was not a good reason to kick someone off the plane, but that Saleh seemed like "he knew what he was doing," during the disturbance.

"lt was clear that this guy knew what he was doing because as he was leaving the plane he would stop, he would kind of make eye contact with people and say, 'Delta is kicking me off the plane.'"

Another passenger, Jacqueline Willemsen, also said the incident looked staged.

"To be honest, it seemed more of a scene than anything had actually happened," she told CBS news. "I'm not sure what happened before but the way he was acting in a very arrogant way, immediately brought out the camera and seemed like he was pretty prepared before for what he was ready to do."

When Saleh began recording the video — saying he was kicked off for speaking Arabic to his mother — everyone “felt horrible” and that some passengers began to cry as it “became an issue of race," Alivez said.

However, he added, one female passenger eventually told another who was crying that “this guy’s a prankster and he does stuff like this.”

Avilez said he and other passengers “were like whaaat?”

Still, Avilez said that he did not think the incident was fabricated or a “premeditated prank.”

“Like any prankster, you’re always joking, you’re always ‘on,’” Avilez said. “I just think he and his friend were horse playing, they were goofing around, they were just being young kids.”

“Just like you don’t say the word ‘hijack’ on a plane, you don’t pump your fists and speak words in Arabic on a plane during these times,” Avilez said. “He was being immature, but was not preplanned.”

Saleh posted a statement Wednesday night addressing Delta's allegation that it was he and his friend who started the commotion, and accused the airline of "trying to deny it to save their brand."

"Delta has been called out previously for racial matters," he said. "Yes we're pranksters, and it sounds like the boy who cried wolf but today you can clearly see its as real as it gets."

Saleh said he would not be speaking to reporters about it any more until speaking with his attorney.