Lyft Driver Kicks Couple Out of His Car Over Racist Comments: ‘You Speak English'

By Samantha in News On 22nd May 2022
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James Bode, a Lyft driver has gone viral after a video of him kicking out two Lehigh Valley passengers passing racist comments on him went viral on social media.

Bode posted the video from his car on his Facebook page last week. The video went viral overnight and has been viewed more than a million times across different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and beyond.

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It is reported that the incident happened outside of Catasauqua bar Fossil’s Last Stand in Lehigh County.

It is also cinfirmed that the borough's police deparmtent is invesitgating the incident. Accoridnf to the police, the racist woman in the video is Jackie Harford, who owns Fossil's.

The video, just over a minute long, starts when Harford gets into Bode's car. He asks if the ride is for "Jackie" and she confirms it is.

“You’re like a white guy," Harford says as she gets into the car on the rear passenger side. Bode asks, "What’s that?"

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"Are you, like, a white guy?" asks Harford, who is then making her way to the center of the car. "You’re like, a normal guy?" Harford says. "You speak English?"

There is an awkward silence, before Harford laughs and apologizes to Bode with a  pat on his shoulder. Bode then flatly repsonds to her and asks her to step out of his car, saying what Harford said was inappropriate.

"If somebody was not white, sitting in this seat, what would be the difference?" Bode asked.

The car’s rear passenger door is still open, and Bode repeats to a man, unidentified at this time, standing outside the car that he won't be taking the ride.

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"Really?" the man says, "You’re a f-----g a--hole."

Bode points toward the camera inside the car and tells the man it's all on video.

“I’m gonna punch you in the f-----g face,” the man says back to Bode.

Bode calls the couple “racist f---s,” as Harford gets out of the car.

That's when the man calls him an "[n-word] lover."

Bode rolls down the window and tells the couple he's calling the police.

Catasauqua Police Chief Douglas Tish confirmed Bode made a police report at 10:27 p.m. Friday night. He confirmed the incident remains under investigation.

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Lyft responded to a version of Bode's video that has more than 3.3 million views on Twitter.

"We are incredibly grateful to Lyft driver @Jameswb333 for instantly shutting down this hate & upholding our no tolerance anti-discrimination policies," Lyft said. "We're looking into these riders & are in touch with James to show our thanks."

Calls were also made to Fossil's but there has been no response yet. Their website and Facebook pages had been deactivated.

Yelp and TripAdvisor shut down the comments for both of the bar's pages after they were flooded with negative reviews and one-star ratings.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Bode's initial Facebook post with the video received nearly 4,000 comments.

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Following the viral video, Bode took to his social media to express gratitude for all the support he received from people:

“But this is the way it should be everywhere, every time," Bode wrote. "I shouldn’t be ‘the guy’ who did it or said it…we should all be that person. Speak up if you’re uncomfortable with it because it makes them uncomfortable, as they should be. F**k racism,” Bode wrote.

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NBC10's Deanna Durante also reported that the Lyft driver's father passed away last year and folks who saw the viral video are donating to cover his funeral expenses. Others are sharing his Lyft handle encouraging tips.

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