In a widely shared TikTok video, a woman confronted an airline passenger after catching him exchanging racist and homophobic messages. While on a trip from Puerto Rico to Atlanta, TikTok user Taila Rouse spotted the man in the seat next to her using his phone and saw the words “big black woman,” which prompted her to keep reading.
In the viral clip, she expressed her disdain, stating, “I want you to feel as uncomfortable as I do, and I want you to know that I saw your text messages and I think you’re disgusting.”
The passenger apologized after being called out, and the woman responded, “You’re sorry because I saw it.”
Rouse shared the occurrence on TikTok. However, she did not provide any identifying information about the airline, flight date, or passenger in her posts.
Viral TikTok Sparks Debate, Garners Over 13 Million Views
Within 24 hours, the TikTok video became viral, racking up over 13 million views, millions of likes, and countless comments. Rouse said that the man and his family had been whining about having to sit next to Black and LGBT people and that she wished airlines would charge more to prevent their appearance in the future.
When Rouse overheard several passengers in the middle seat of her flight making derogatory comments against African Americans, she felt obligated to speak up.
In a series of videos, she addressed a number of concerns raised in response to the initial video. Rouse said that he didn’t move seats for the rest of the flight, so they stayed in close proximity. One TikTok user insulted her for peeking at another person’s phone, claiming they couldn’t even complain by text because of her actions. In response, she posted a video with a close-up of the passenger’s contentious text exchange, which amassed 1.7 million views.
Rouse addressed the TikTok users who commended her for drawing attention to the incident and the passenger’s inappropriate actions. She thanked everyone who supported her choice to address the passenger in public and promised to go into more depth in an upcoming storytime video. Many users praised Rouse for addressing the matter without exposing the passenger’s name, and support for her quickly grew.
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