Virgin Australia: Airline criticized for spreading homophobic emails on Twitter
Virgin Australia has admitted it made an “error of discretion” in releasing a customer’s email criticizing its “Pride Flights” while promoting the initiative on a social media post.
The airline shared on Twitter a screenshot of an email it claimed was sent by the disgruntled passenger, who said partying drag queens was “mentally deranged.”
“Your latest advertising campaign aimed at a tiny, marginalized group in our society is an insult [to] the normal everyday Australians,” it said.
The email, sent from an “Ian and Karen” account, consistently attacked drag queens and was signed by a “disgusted former customer” who vowed never to fly Virgin again.
In the Twitter post that accompanied the email, the airline wrote, “Thank you for your email Karen, in case you missed it, Pride Flight is now on sale.”
Virgin quickly responded with a brutal backlash to the tweet, admitting on Friday night that posting the email was “an inappropriate course of action”.
In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, the airline said the decision to “publish disrespectful and hateful email communications about our Pride flights was an error of judgment by our team”.
Virgin Australia has admitted it made “an error of judgment” by using vile homophobic hate speech in a social media post promoting its “Pride Flights” (pictured, the Pride Flight campaign).
On Thursday morning, the airline tweeted a screenshot of an email it allegedly received – which said partying drag queens was “mentally deranged.”
Twitter followers were quick to call the airline about the publication of the offensive email, wanting to know if it had been faked.
“Yes please support LGBTQI+, but don’t invent fake hate mail to sell airline tickets and then delete your post when prompted,” journalist Asher Wolf tweeted.
Queer writer and philosopher Joshua Badge called the misguided campaign “rainbow capitalism at its finest.”
“Either it’s fake or they put out a hate mail…taking bets on which is worse lmao,” they wrote.
“I might humbly suggest that the real solution is to just *not* use homophobia as an excuse to sell plane tickets.”
Twitter followers were quick to call the airline about the release of the offensive email, wanting to know if it was faked by Virgin (pictured, airline employees celebrate Pride).
The email shared by Virgin, believed to be genuine, attacked drag queens throughout (pictured scenes from the Virgin Pride Flight launch campaign).
READ THE “HOMOPHOBIC” EMAIL SHARED BY VIRGIN AUSTRALIA:
I am writing to your organization to let you know that I will never fly with your airline again.
Your recent ad campaign aimed at a tiny marginalized group in our society is an insult to the normal, everyday Australian.
It highlights the depths of depravity into which your leaders have descended.
Who in their right mind would think that celebrating the drag queen community and believing that doing so would put your organization in a favorable light would be a good idea… deranged people I would suggest.
Have you heard the phrase: GO WOKE GO BROKE
Just think of all your everyday co-workers who will all suffer from your irrational decisions.
Signed,
A disgusted former passenger
One health advocate wrote: “Are you trying to click on both sides to increase engagement? What is this marketing tactic called? Reflect? rage bait?’
As Twitter users continued to complain about the offensive email, the airline quietly deleted the post from their account.
The email is believed to be genuine and was sent to Virgin as a complaint about the Pride Flight promotion, which includes its own website.
In a statement on Friday, the airline told Daily Mail Australia it was “incredibly proud of its inclusive culture and its Pride Flight initiative”.
“At Virgin Australia, we believe it is incredibly important that we use our voice to promote and support the LGBTQIA+ community in the places where we live, work and fly.
“However, the decision to post disrespectful and hateful email communications about our Pride Flights online was a misjudgment by our team.
“While the intent was to shed some light on this intolerant behavior, the reality was that it was inappropriate.”
LGBTQI+ passengers are encouraged to buy the flights, but on Twitter, one follower called the airline’s misguided advertising “rainbow capitalism at its finest.”
Several Virgin flights from Australian capital cities to Sydney in February 2023 will be co-hosted by stars of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Downunder and well-known drag queens
The airline has caught a brutal backlash on social media over the tweet, admitting on Friday night that posting the email was “an inappropriate course of action”.
The email that set off the Twitter storm on Thursday said the Pride Flight initiative represented “a tiny marginalized group in our society.”
“Anyone in their right mind would think it would be a good idea to celebrate the drag queen community and believe that doing so will put your organization in a favorable light… mentally deranged people, I would suggest,” it was said.
The email went on to say that the celebration of the LGBTQ community highlighted the “depths of depravity” into which Virgin Australia bosses have “descended” and that staff are suffering from “irrational decisions”.
The message was signed off as “a disgusted former passenger”.
Several Virgin flights to Sydney in February 2023 will be hosted by Ru Paul’s Drag Race downunder stars such as Coco Jumbo, Maxi Shield and Kween Kong, as well as well-known drag queens Penny Tration, Barbie Q and Torah Hymen.
Dannii Minogue was also involved in the launch of the Pride Flights 2023 initiative.
Virgin Pride flights to Sydney in February 2023 depart from Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne
Virgin Australia told Daily Mail Australia the social media post was “inappropriate” and said it was proud of its Pride Flight program
The airline has spent the last week sharing promotional videos for the campaign, which show drag queens dressed up as flight attendants and waving rainbow flags.
Perth passengers can book Pride flights to Sydney for $379 – with Virgin donating $30 from the sale of each ticket to queer youth charity Minus18.
A special flight on February 24 will be hosted by Perth drag queen Barbie Q with passengers to enjoy DJ performances and a pre-flight party.
Virgin Australia Chief People Officer Lisa Burquest said the number of Pride flights had doubled after the airline received positive community feedback.
“Diversity and inclusion at all levels is really important at Virgin Australia and the LGBTQ+ community has always been important, as customers and as employees,” she said.
Finalists of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Down Under finalists Spankie Jackzon (right), Hannah Conda (left) and Kween Kong (center)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11339263/Virgin-Australia-Airline-slammed-sharing-homophobic-email-Twitter.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Virgin Australia: Airline criticized for spreading homophobic emails on Twitter
