American Airlines confirms it has ‘removed’ employees ‘from service’ over alleged social media posts on Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Pilots employed by Fort Worth-based American Airlines have been “removed from service” over alleged posts on social media about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
Duffy made the announcement in a social media post on Saturday, in which he said, “this behavior is disgusting and they should be fired. Any company responsible for the safety of the traveling public cannot tolerate that behavior.”
Duffy’s post is linked back to a post from controversial conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos in which he shared what he alleges were screenshots from social media, and linked the posts to a LinkedIn page belonging to an American Airlines pilot with the same name. The pilot has not been officially identified.
The screenshots appeared to show the alleged pilot using mocking and derogatory language to describe the shooting of Kirk.
In a post responding to a response to Yiannopoulos’ post sharing the alleged screenshots, American Airlines posted, “American Airlines condemns violence of any kind. Furthermore, hate-related or hostile behavior runs contrary to our purpose, which is to care for people on life’s journey. Any such behavior is unacceptable, and we have already initiated action to address this with our team.”
In a follow-up statement to WFAA, American Airlines said, “employees who promote such violence on social media were immediately removed from service.”
“American Airlines condemns violence of any kind. Hate-related or hostile behavior runs contrary to our purpose, which is to care for people on life’s journey. Employees who promote such violence on social media were immediately removed from service. We will continue to initiate action with team members who display this kind of behavior,” American Airlines said.
CNN reports Delta Airlines and United Airlines have also suspended employees for social media posts about the shooting of Kirk.
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University last week.