Ride-share giant Uber bans customer after Alberta driver shares racist rant video

EDMONTON — Ride-share giant Uber has banned a customer from its app after one of its drivers posted a social media video showing him enduring a racist tirade.

Mandeep Sehgal says it was important for him to call attention to it because South Asian drivers are increasingly facing racist taunts and Uber was taking too long to hold his belligerent customer accountable.

Sehgal said South Asian Uber drivers are also increasingly installing cameras in their cars for safety due to the hate.

“Enough is enough. We are not going to tolerate it anymore,” Sehgal, 40, said, in an interview.

Uber, in an emailed statement this week, confirmed action had been taken.

“We have been in touch with the driver, and have removed the rider from the platform,” the company said.

Uber added it has made it easier to report discrimination on its platform, and reminded users that they are required to follow its guidelines, which state “discriminatory language … vilifying, or asking questions about sensitive topics regarding national origin, race, ethnicity” and “making racial comments or using slurs is never allowed.”

A spokesperson for the app did not answer questions about why it took so long for it to ban the customer.

Sehgal said he picked up a man from a remote neighbourhood southeast of Calgary on the night of Sept. 21.

Sehgal can be seen in an approximately three-minute long dashcam video.

As he begins driving, the man asks Sehgal where he’s from. Sehgal tells him he’s Indian.

He asks Sehgal if he’s a permanent resident. Sehgal replies that he is, and that he arrived in Canada seven years ago.

Are you going to get a “white chick” pregnant, the man asks.

Sehgal laughs nervously and replies: “Why you’re so judgmental?”

“Cause I’m born and raised Calgarian. I’m white blood of the land. You are on my land. I’m the blood of the land,” the man replies.

“You’re not even close to being from here.”

That was enough for Sehgal, who said he no longer felt safe with this passenger and was done with tolerating “ignorant customers” complaining about immigrants over the three years he has been driving for Uber.

He pulled over and ordered the passenger out, telling him, “You can get out here on your land.”

Sehgal said the man left him shaken and upset.

“I’m paying taxes. I’m a law-abiding citizen. If I have to prove that I belong here, it creates insecurity,” he said, adding both his children were born in Canada.

Sehgal said he later contacted Uber support to report the man’s behaviour and send the dashcam video.

But he said the app’s support workers told him they couldn’t do anything. They also refused to remove the customer from the app and the low driver rating he had left behind.

A frustrated Sehgal then posted the video on social media. He said Uber contacted him soon after to warn him he can’t publish video without a customer’s consent but, again, didn’t take action to hold the man accountable.

He said the video gained traction this month on the internet, after it was shared again thousands of times on a different platform and, ultimately, Uber banned the rider.

Sehgal said he, himself, erred. The RCMP directed him to remove the address he had posted of the area he picked up the man because it was not related to the customer, putting an innocent third party at risk of harassment.

Evan Balgord, the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, said Sehgal’s plight is part of a larger, growing problem.

Balgord said he has recently observed a lot of hate targeting Canada’s South Asian diaspora in response to politicians discussing immigration and student visas in Canada.

He said Sehgal’s customer needs to reflect on his actions.

“I hope he learns from this experience, changes his beliefs, and comes forward and apologizes,” Balgord said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2024.

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press