Chemical engineer fired for racist, homophobic rant onboard flight

A man who hurled racist and homophobic abuse at a fellow passenger onboard an American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Dallas has been sacked by his employers.

The man, identified as Zachary Easterly, used to work as a chemical engineer at the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company GlaxoSmithKline.

The firm fired him after the video of his homophobic tirade went viral on social media platforms. He, in fact, dug his own grave by announcing details about his employer in the video.

The man could be seen yelling and screaming at passengers and flight attendants. He sarcastically claims that he is being forced out of the flight for being racist.

He then goes on to say that the black bag he is carrying is "a better bag than most of y'all can afford." He also admits that he is drunk and calls everyone on the flight "liberal f******."

"Obviously I'm a white male that picked a black bag because I'm racist," he says in the video. The man could also be heard repeatedly calling passengers "f******." He then adds that he hopes their plane crashes before announcing the details of his employers and adding that he is about to quit.

The man who posted a video of the incident on the subreddit r/American airlines claimed that the man used a highly offensive racist slur "about 20 times."

TMZ reached out to GSK, who said that they had fired the man. "We immediately conducted an investigation and as of Thursday, he is no longer employed at GSK. The person's remarks were reprehensible and do not reflect our company culture."

"At GSK, diversity, equity and inclusion is embraced and celebrated and we are committed in policy, principle and practice to maintaining an environment which prohibits discriminatory behaviour and provides equal opportunity for all persons," GSK added.

Meanwhile, American Airlines has not issued any statements addressing the incident yet.