Sir Mo Farah Accuses German Airport Official Of Racial Harassment
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Double Olympic Champion Sir Mo Farah has accused an airport security employee in Germany of racial harassment.
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The athlete uploaded a video of himself to Instagram Live, in which he said: "Just in the airport here, got harassed again. For wearing a hoodie and a jumper, Germany airport, Germany airport, oh my god. The guy's touching me up like crazy."
In the clip, a security official comes up behind him and starts escorting him through the airport while reportedly saying, 'Go to the gate.' The long-distance runner replies to the official: "I'm going to the gate. There's no need to push me."
"There is no need to grab me. Leave me alone. You're on Instagram Live."
He's since uploaded a copy of the video to his Twitter account, writing: "Sad to see racial harassment in this day and age. 2018."
People on social media flocked to post messages of support to the Olympian.
Those who say this has nothing to do with racism. The policeman would never ever do this to a white person. End of.
- #WengerOut (@Q8Gunner) March 6, 2018
He's filming because he's getting harrassed; not being harassed because he's filming. Hope the security guy gets reprimanded
- Janice Tirpanci (@Jetworld) March 6, 2018
Supporter Mark wrote: "Unfortunately racism will always be around. There are people that are not tolerant or understanding as the majority of us. We all just need to feel sorry for these people and show the others that are around how to handle such a situation."
There were a lot of comments that criticised Farah, however, suggesting he shouldn't have been filming inside an airport.
Sir Mo does say that the 'racial' element to the harassment started before he began videoing the encounter and was only able to capture the part where he was being escorted.
It's not the first time the athlete has faced an issue at an airport - a previous encounter was reported to have taken place after the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sir Mo's wife explained how their family was about to board a flight after his gold medal win in the 5,000 metre event, only to be told to go to the back of the queue for Business Class.
Tania Farah told the Telegraph: "This woman basically humiliated him until people came forward and said: 'That's Mo Farah, the Olympic champion.'
"She was mortified afterwards but had basically yelled at him like he was a piece of shit to get back into line.
"He was the only black person [in the queue] and hadn't done anything to warrant it. I just knew she had a problem with him."
The family was eventually allowed onto the flight after a second airline official intervened.
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