A preferred Detroit rapper sparked controversy on-line after she claimed that her Lyft driver refused to permit her into his automotive earlier this month.
Dank Demoss, whose actual identify is Dajua Blanding, was recording when the motive force of a Mercedes-Benz sedan locked his door and refused to permit her entry.
“I can match on this automotive,” Blanding mentioned in a video that was shared to social media on January 19. “Imagine me, you’ll be able to’t,” the motive force responded–including that the tires wouldn’t be capable of deal with her weight. In response to The New York Put up, the rapper has beforehand shared her weight as greater than 480 kilos.
In her put up on Instagram the place she shared video of the occasion, the rapper wrote, “AM I WRONG?,” Demoss wrote within the put up. “(Lyft) what y’all received to say about this yall driver discriminated in opposition to me…I JUST FEEL LIKE YALL TREAT BIG PPLE LIKE SH*T LIKE WE DONT BELONG HERE.”
The unique garnered greater than 11,000 likes and 1000’s of feedback.
In response to Fox 2 Detroit, the motive force apologized for the inconvenience and provided to refund her cash and help her with ordering a bigger automobile.
“I’ve been in vehicles smaller than that,” she instructed FOX 2. “I simply need them to know that it harm my emotions.”
In addressing the problem, Lyft issued an announcement, saying, “Lyft unequivocally condemns all types of discrimination—we imagine in a neighborhood the place everyone seems to be handled with equal respect and mutual kindness. Our neighborhood tips and phrases of service explicitly prohibit harassment or discrimination.”
Nonetheless, Blanding’s attorneys, Jonathan Marko and Zach Runyan have filed a lawsuit in opposition to the rideshare firm.
Marko defined that as weight is a protected attribute, the actions of the Lyft driver is identical as discriminating in opposition to somebody as a result of their spiritual beliefs.
Nonetheless, quite a few social media customers on X, specifically, are disagreeing with Blanding.
https://x.com/tournesolnao/standing/1884219477447041202
It’s unclear if the Lyft driver has been named within the lawsuit or has been let go by the corporate.