Across the United States, incidents of discrimination among citizens have been widely reported. This time, however, the prejudice appears to have crossed into a professional setting. An Uber driver in Tennessee recently went viral after a passenger exposed his alleged policy of refusing service to riders who speak Spanish. His justification? Supposedly, “Trump’s law.”
The incident took place in Nashville, Tennessee, and it was recorded by musician MusicCityKenny or Kenny. MusicCityKenny took an Uber ride during one of his gigs in Tennessee when he noticed something strange about the driver, who suddenly began spouting prejudice and discrimination against people who speak Spanish, particularly Mexicans:
Since he’s a musician, it appears Kenny touched upon the subject by saying, “Everyone listens to everything now.” However, the Uber driver quickly retorted that he’s not playing anything Spanish on his car radio. Then, without any provocation, the Uber driver started spouting off how non-English speakers are not allowed in his vehicle as it’s against “Uber policy” and “federal law.”
Kenny pushed further, asking why it’s “illegal,” to which the Uber driver replied, “Because Trump just signed that into law. So if you don’t know how to speak English… you get kicked out of the country.” It’s not clear whether the Uber driver was aware that Kenny was recording their conversation, but the musician has elected to keep the driver’s identity anonymous.
Online users are criticizing the Uber driver
The video has since gone viral on other social media platforms outside of TikTok, and the discussion quickly became a fact-checking exercise. Commenters have since corrected the Uber driver, “Trump doesn’t make laws!” according to one X user, with another replying, “Claiming Trump signed such a law is a lie, and lies that justify discrimination are still discrimination.”
Indeed, President Trump hasn’t signed or authored any bill or law that makes it illegal for non-English speakers to hail Uber rides or for Uber drivers to kick out anyone who won’t speak English. Thus, many people online were suggesting that Kenny report the Uber driver in question, “The ignorance in this one is crazy.”
Meanwhile, some commenters have also praised Kenny for keeping a level head in the midst of his Uber driver’s rather discriminatory tirade. “Kudos to this guy for keeping his cool. And I’ve been to Italy and you don’t get kicked out of the country if you don’t speak Italian. Once again, MAGAs show us what morons they are,” claims a commenter, with another sharing a similar sentiment, “Not all maga are racist, but all racist are maga it seems 🤔.”
