Miriam Mattova, former Miss Slovakia, was kicked out of an Uber in Canada for the crime of being Jewish.
By Rachel Avraham
Miriam Mattova, a Slovakian-Canadian model and former Miss Slovakia, recently told various media outlets that she was thrown out of an uber for the crime of being Jewish. The incident was first reported by the National Post, but news of the antisemitic act has since spread to numerous media outlets across the world, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
Miriam Mattova, 33, told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday that she got into an Uber on Dundas Street in Toronto on November 30 and was FaceTiming a friend, telling her about a recent mission trip she took to Israel. According to the report, Mattova said the driver, a Muslim woman, then abruptly slammed on her brakes and told her to get out of the car at a busy intersection.
“I immediately ended my call and asked, like, why they’re stopping. And they told me that they feel uncomfortable with me in the car,” Mattova said. “So I asked why, because I didn’t do anything wrong. And then I got an answer that they don’t drive Jewish people.”
Mattova told the Jerusalem Post: “At that moment, I chose to step out of the car, not out of fear but out of clarity. When someone reveals open discrimination, there is no reason to remain in that space.” According to the report, Mattova then called another uber to get home and then filed a complaint against the driver the next day. However, she noted that Uber only responded once the story was published in the National Post of Canada.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, Mattova said: ““Uber responded with a phone call, saying that they are going to give me a refund. I wanted to be clear that this situation is about more than the cost of a ride and that the incident I experienced was a blatant act of antisemitism.” According to the report, Mattova inquired as to whether the driver would be removed from the company, to which Uber responded that it could not give her an answer. In a subsequent email correspondence, the Jerusalem Post reported that Uber said it would speak to the driver, but no more information was provided.
“I think when dealing with a serious incident involving hate, there needs to be action within 24 hours,” Mattova told The National Post. “Anything less allows prejudice to be expressed freely. What happened to me was a direct act of antisemitism, and it’s important to speak about it openly.”
Mattova told the Jerusalem Post that since she posted about the incident, numerous people have been reaching out to her to say they have experienced similar antisemitic incidents. According to the report, they had also reported the incidents to Uber but had received no answer.
Uber told Yedioth Achronot that discrimination is not tolerated on its platform and that it regretted the passenger’s experience. According to the report, the company said it had been in direct contact with Mattova and had taken “appropriate action” regarding the driver, but declined to specify what that action was. “What worries me most is that Uber refuses to say whether the driver is still active on the platform,” Mattova told Yedioth Achronot, adding that the company cited privacy rights.
Her lawyer, Howard Levitt, told Fox News Digital that his client is seeking an apology, the driver’s termination, a donation to an Israeli charity of her choosing, and a requirement that all Uber drivers acknowledge a no-discrimination policy going forward.
“We’ve demanded they terminate the relationship with the driver, and they’ve refused to respond to that at all. They claim privacy, which is absolute nonsense,” Levitt told Fox News. “First of all, no one even knows the driver’s name, so there’s no privacy issue. And secondly, most decent companies are anxious to tell the world that they would fire someone like that.”
Photo from Ilya Plekhanov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber#/media/File:Uber_taxi_in_Tomsk_01.jpg
