British Airways has terminated two members of its cabin crew after they shared a viral TikTok video of them mocking Asian passengers which had been filmed while they stayed at a luxury resort hotel in Antigua been paid for by the airline.
Ex-cabin crew Holly Walton was filmed by her colleague and friend Lauren Bray making what The Sun described as a “slant-eyed gesture” while putting on a Chinese accent.
Walton was apparently poking fun at an Asian family on the British Airways flight to Antigua who didn’t speak much English. The cabin crew can be heard laughing as Walton says, “Give me wine,” to mimic the family.
The video, which was captioned “two weeks in a row with this dickhead” was shared on TikTok where it was viewed more than one million times before being removed from the platform.
Walton was reportedly on another work trip in Cancun, Mexico, when British Airways found out about the video. She was immediately removed from service and flown back to London for a ‘showdown’ with bosses.
Both Walton and Bray were sacked at the meeting, with an airline spokesperson confirming that the pair were no longer employed by British Airways.
In a statement, a BA spokesperson commented: “All forms of racism are completely unacceptable, and we take allegations of this nature very seriously.”
Last year, British Airways issued new social media guidelines in a bid to crack down on a wave of inappropriate posts that were being shared by cabin crew in uniform.
The carrier banned staff from creating content, such as taking and sharing a seemingly innocent photo of themselves at work, when they are “professionally engaged” in their jobs.
I say stuff like this about other races and people all the time, but we don’t film it. Although even if we did, it wouldn’t matter. I’m already rich.