American Airlines said Wednesday that its CEO apologized for “unacceptable” comments he made about airline passengers in a video that aired on Sunday.
The apology, made in an internal memo sent to employees, included a series of tweets, which were sent out after the video was posted to YouTube.
In the tweets, the airline CEO said that if he were a passenger, he’d “be the one” to ask the person on the plane to leave, according to a copy of the memo obtained by NBC News.
“If the person you’re talking to doesn’t want to leave the plane, you shouldn’t be on the airplane,” he said.
“This is unacceptable, and it is not OK,” the airline said.
The video was released on Sunday, and after a backlash on social media, American Airlines issued a statement saying it was “deeply sorry for the hurt and anger this video has caused.”
“The CEO and I shared these comments last week, and I deeply regret them.
We have made a public apology for them and are committed to working together to make sure we never make this mistake again,” the statement said.
American Airlines has not yet responded to a request for comment from NBC News about the apology.
The CEO apologized in the memo sent out to employees Tuesday night.
“I want to express my sincere apology to American customers, colleagues, employees and anyone else who was offended by these remarks.
They were unprofessional and inappropriate,” the memo said.