Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick attempted to quell a rising tide of customers furious at the ride-sharing app over the company’s stance on President Donald Trump’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim countries, saying in a statement Sunday that the ban is “wrong and unjust.”
Kalanick, who is a member of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum dedicated to counseling him on economic issues, released the statement Sunday afternoon on Facebook and also promised to offer legal and financial aid to drivers affected by the ban. But it may have been too little, too late for many people, as the hashtag #DeleteUber trended on Twitter throughout Saturday night into Sunday morning.
People’s rage at Uber is a result of the company’s decision to continue providing rides to passengers at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, despite a call from the New York Taxi Workers Association to halt service for one hour in protest of Trump’s executive order. Several travelers from the banned countries were detained at JFK Airport.
Instead, Uber sent out a tweet saying that it would halt price surging at the airport, which some took as a message that not only was the company refusing to join the protest but attempting to undercut it by generating more rides for itself.