Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is under fire after Bloomberg News published a dash cam video of Kalanick arguing with and insulting an Uber driver in an expletive-filled tirade. This is driver Fawzi Kamel, confronting Kalanick about his decision to lower the prices for rides for the company’s high-end service, UberBLACK.
Fawzi Kamel: “I lost $97,000 because of you. I’m bankrupt because of you.”
Travis Kalanick: “Look.”
Fawzi Kamel: “Yes, yes, yes. You keep changing every day.”
Travis Kalanick: “What have I—”
Fawzi Kamel: “You keep changing every day!”
Travis Kalanick: “Hold on a second! What have a changed about Black? Huh? What have I changed?”
Fawzi Kamel: “You changed the whole business!”
Travis Kalanick: “What? What?”
Fawzi Kamel: “You dropped the prices.”
Travis Kalanick: “On Black?”
Fawzi Kamel: “Yes, you did.”
Travis Kalanick: “[expletive]”
Fawzi Kamel: “We started with $20.”
Travis Kalanick: “[expletive]”
Fawzi Kamel: “We started with $20.”
Travis Kalanick: “You know what?”
Fawzi Kamel: “How much is the mile now? $2.75?”
Travis Kalanick: “You know what?”
Fawzi Kamel: “What?”
Travis Kalanick: “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their
[expletive].”
Fawzi Kamel: “I take responsibility!”
Travis Kalanick: “They blame everything in their life on somebody else.”
Fawzi Kamel: “But why are you changing the email for town car?”
Travis Kalanick: “Good luck!”
Fawzi Kamel: “Good luck to you, too.”
After the video surfaced, CEO Travis Kalanick said, “To say that I am ashamed is an extreme understatement.” Uber is also embroiled in a controversy over allegations of sexual harassment. On Monday, the head of the engineering department was fired, after it emerged he had failed to disclose that he’d left his previous job at Google amid sexual harassment accusations. His departure comes a week after a former Uber engineer said she endured sexual harassment on the job and that Uber’s HR department had refused to take action.