(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) NBC News published an article on their website accusing right-wing conservative influencers and politicians of unfair bias against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion—or DEI—programming and hires after the rash of dangerous incidents onboard various flights.
Re the airlines’ DEI programs: Many of the criticisms are based on misunderstandings or false narratives about DEI programs. pic.twitter.com/PudrFUjmIe
— David Ingram (@David_Ingram) January 28, 2024
The article’s author, David Ingram, claimed that conservatives’ criticisms came from misunderstandings about airline companies commitments to diversity initiatives.
Ingram cited a 2021 Axios interview with United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby in which Kirby said the company wants 50% of flight academy students to be women or people of color.
“We have committed that 50% of the classes will be women or people of color,” Kirby said. “Today only 19% of our pilots at United Airlines are women or people of color—and by the way, out of all the data I’ve seen, that’s the highest out of any airline in the country.”
Some critics, however, reported that the CEO wanted 50% of the airline’s workforce to be women or people of color—a distinction that Ingram took umbrage with.
United clarified that its standards for pilot competency and safety had not been altered to accommodate for DEI hires.
Ingram claimed conservatives correlation of rising DEI programming and increasing number of serious incidents on planes was a fallacy, as they were unable to produce any hard evidence.
However, though the entirety of the article, Ingram only cited anecdotal evidence from various frequent fliers, such as blogger Brett Snyder, also known as Cranky Flier.
The recent episode involving a Boeing plane on an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon that lost its door midflight was one example that conservative critics pointed to after it was discovered that Spirit AeroSystems, the company that manufactured the plane door, had proudly touted its all-female crew.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the “dream team” at the manufacturer that made the plane door that just blew off in the middle of a flight pic.twitter.com/gZ2AboGnpR
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 11, 2024
Ingram listed a litany of conservative influencers and politicians who called out airlines for straying from their primary focus—which is to fly passengers from one place to another safety.
“DEI is destroying our airlines!” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in a post promoting his podcast “Firebrand,” where he and Revolver editor Darren Beattie discussed the issue.
DEI is destroying our major airlines! Watch more 👇https://t.co/R3XwI5BqGc
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 18, 2024
Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik posted an ad for Virgin Atlantic airlines that highlighted a campaign for flight stewards to have crossdressing uniforms, which also featured a drag queen.
“They went all in on DEI. They changed uniform policy so men can cross dress and nonbinary crew can wear pronoun pins. They boast drag queen flight attendants,” the post read.
“Last week a @VirginAtlantic flight was canceled after a passenger noticed missing bolts on the wing,” it continued. “DEI in the airline industry will get people k*lled.”
Ingram reached out to Raichik for a comment, to which she responded by saying she will “only talk to black, Latinx or LBGTQ reporters.”
Dave from NBC reached out for comment about a DEI piece he’s writing. Dave is white so he’s probably a privileged oppressor. I told him I will only talk to black, Latinx, or LGBTQ reporters ✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/JXCJpcJayT
— Chaya Raichik (@ChayaRaichik10) January 25, 2024
