A JetBlue worker who dressed as a homeless person “trying to get back to Puerto Rico or Cuba” is being excoriated on social media for what some are calling a “racist and highly offensive” depiction.
The employee dressed down as a homeless person wearing tattered and soiled clothing, with a homemade cardboard sign around her neck that read “Homeless. Need help trying to get back home to Puerto Rico or Cuba,” an image of the worker posted to Twitter shows.
“This was the costume of a JetBlue employee at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, FL,” Twitter user @nats2548 captioned a shot of the worker standing in the JetBlue terminal in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. “I want to read your opinions.”
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Criticism swelled quickly, with some calling for the worker to be fired.
“@JetBlue needs to fire her a– and issue a public apology for her costume because I find it highly offensive and … I personally won’t be flying JetBlue until they issue an apology… ” Twitter user @dominopr777 seethed.
Others said the costume was tone-deaf to survivors of Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster in Puerto Rican history. The 2017 storm left over 3,000 people dead and thousands more homeless.
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JetBlue is the largest airline carrier in Puerto Rico, while Fort Lauderdale is nearly 20 percent Latino, according to NBC News.
JetBlue is the largest airline carrier in Puerto Rico, while Fort Lauderdale is nearly 20 percent Latino, according to reports.
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The company apologized in a statement to the network and said “the situation was immediately addressed.”
“In the spirit of Halloween, our crewmembers are welcome to celebrate in costume, but one crewmember chose a costume that was clearly insensitive and not in line with our costume policy,” said Derek Dombrowski, manager of corporate communications at JetBlue.
