Australian comedian recounts casual racism by Qantas staff via Twitter
Ah racism, how you love to keep rearing your ugly head.
You'd hope that flight staff are at least trained, if not genuinely good enough people, to avoid cracking offensive jokes while on the job.
Well, unfortunately for Australian comedian Aamer Rahman, a Qantas staffer allegedly had a bit of a lol over some "crazy and wacky ethnic names that he finds hard to pronounce." Kind of like *that* uncle at a family barbecue.
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Rahman recounted the interaction on Twitter: "It's the Chinese and Indian ones I have real fun with," the Qantas staffer apparently said, before directing his attention to Rahman.
"Unless this guy's a 'Singh' I'm in trouble! Oh 'Rahman -- too easy," the staffer said.
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Rahman said as much he'd like to "flip out" about the exchange, he decided to leave it due to being exhausted from touring. "I smile, congratulate him on his victory, and take my seat," Rahman said. Qantas responded to Rahman's tweet, saying that it is something it does not "tolerate."
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Qantas told Mashable Australia via email they would be investigating the claim: "We're concerned by this report and we'll be investigating the allegations thoroughly. There's absolutely no place for racism at Qantas," according to a spokesperson.
If Aamer Rahman isn't familiar to you, he's the guy behind the viral "Reverse Racism" stand-up bit from a few years back. Plus a wealth of other incredibly witty and right-on observations on racism in modern Australia. You picked the wrong guy, random racist. Sucked in.
UPDATE: Aug. 9, 2016, 1:57 p.m. AEST Added Qantas' statement.
