No Mercy: Alaska Airlines Fires Flight Attendant For Twerking In Uniform On TikTok
An Alaska Airlines flight attendant claims she lost her job for posting a video on TikTok of her twerking in uniform. Does the punishment fit the crime?
Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Fired For Twerking. In Uniform. Onboard 737. Then Posting It On TikTok.
Nelle Diala was a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. In November 2024, she posted a video on TikTok that quickly went viral. She was twerking. In uniform. On an Alaska 737 aircraft.
Cant even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. Whats wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before. #fyp #flightattendantlife 4evaa #discrimnationisreal
For the innocent among us, twerking is dancing to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.
She captioned the 15-second clip, “Ghetto till I die, don’t let the uniform fool you.”
Alaska Airlines did not like the video…and fired her (according to Diala) for violating the carrier’s social media policy.
She left the video up, but has now changed the caption, alleging discrimination:
Cant even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. Whats wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before. #fyp #flightattendantlife 4evaa #discrimnationisreal
My reaction:
I’m a millennial but you might as well call me a boomer in terms of my outlook on life. And would you ever catch me twerking? No. But was this a “sexually provocative” dance? I mean, I guess…at the end. Thanks Elvis Presley…
But while I may roll my eyes at “the youth of today” this sort of thing is so commonplace these days that my sense of outrage is dulled.
Do I want my daughter twerking one day? Heavens no. Is it professional? Not by historical norms. Does it rise to the level of being a firable offense? Yes, if that is what Alaska’s social media policy warns. Therefore, was she on notice and should she have known better? Yes and yes. But fired for this? I’m only speaking for me, but I’d likely show mercy…
Even so, she’s not a victim and I find no basis to conclude that Alaska Airlines “discriminated” against her for any other reason than her poor choice to post that video. Yes Nelle, discrimination is real: every choice we make is an act of discrimination.
It’s another warning for all of us: we must guard what we post on social media. And for employees, that warning carries all the more weight…