YouTube star Adam Saleh claimed he was kicked off a Delta Airlines flight in London—solely because he was speaking Arabic on a phone call to his mother.
But after internet sleuths discovered his history of provocative videos, it’s clear there’s more to the story.

Saleh claims that, after passengers reported being uncomfortable with Saleh while he was speaking Arabic, he was asked to leave. He posted a video of the encounter on YouTube, where he said: “We spoke a different language on the plane, and now we’re  getting kicked out. This is 2016. I cannot believe my eyes.”

“We were kicked off the flight while those passengers mocked us,” Saleh added. “I appreciate everyone’s support and effort in raising awareness on this.”

But, as it turns out, Saleh’s video was a hoax: he wasn’t kicked off the plane because he was speaking Arabic. He was kicked off the plane because a fellow passenger tipped off flight attendants that Saleh was a prominent YouTube prankster—with a long history of intentionally provocative behavior on airplanes.
Passengers also apparently disputed the fact that Saleh was even talking to his mother in the first place.

Over the past two years, Saleh has posted inflammatory videos of himself on airplanes—including one titled, “COUNTING DOWN IN ARABIC ON A PLANE EXPERIMENT!!” where he filmed the reactions of other passengers as he loudly counted down from 10 to 0 in Arabic.

Another video showed Saleh and a friend, dressed in traditionally Arab clothing, speaking loudly in Arabic—in an attempt to provoke a reaction from other passengers.
Despite facing backlash, Saleh continues to deny that this particular video was a hoax. His manager claimed Saleh’s latest video is “as real as it gets.”