YouTube star Adam Saleh 'thrown off Delta Airlines flight for speaking in Arabic to his mother'

Adam Saleh was crying after being removed from his flight to New York

A man has claimed he was thrown off a Delta Airlines flight for speaking to his mother in Arabic.

YouTube star and serial prankster Adam Saleh, who has more than 1.6 million subscribers on his channel, posted a video on Twitter that appeared to show him being escorted from the plane along with a friend, called Slim.

A Delta staff member can be seen in the shot.

Mr Saleh can be heard to say to fellow passengers: "Are you serious? I'm about to cry right now. You guys are racists. I cannot believe it. Because we said a word in a different language? And it's six white people against us bearded men?"

He finds some support among other passengers and one says: "That is so upsetting. Why are they being kicked out?"

In a later Periscope video Mr Saleh said: "I was speaking to my mum in Arabic, then I spoke to Slim in Arabic, and they kicked us out."

On Twitter, he added: "I will not let this issue go by. I will speak up and make sure anyone can speak any language in a plane."

Delta said in a statement: "Two customers were removed from this flight and later rebooked after a disturbance in the cabin resulted in more than 20 customers expressing their discomfort.

"We're conducting a full review to understand what transpired. We are taking allegations of discrimination very seriously; our culture requires treating others with respect."

Other social media users cast doubt on Mr Saleh's posts.

Lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky tweeted: "Maybe some context be nice? How do we know this legit? Video doesn't show the 'before'."

Others pointed out that Mr Saleh had tweeted from an airport on December 19 saying that workers recognised him from a previous prank video.

“I might get held up or in trouble,” he wrote.

The Independent was unable to verify whether the latest video was part of a prank.

In November Delta banned a passenger for life after he went on an explicit pro-Donald Trump and anti-Hillary Clinton rant on his flight from Atlanta to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The company's firm stance against the "loud, rude and disrespectful" passenger came following widespread criticism on social media over its lack of discipline for him after footage of the incident surfaced online.

Social media users pointed out that the man, who was white, was not ejected from the flight but passengers who are Sikh, Muslim, African-American, and of other minority ethnicities have been kicked off flights due to safety concerns following complaints from passengers and staff.