JetBlue has finally broken its silence on Steve Slater.
The company has been lauded for its innovative use of social media. But, for 48 hours at least, JetBlue was uncharacteristically mum on Slater, its most famous former employee who has become, in short order, nothing short of a working-class American folk hero for the manner in which he quit — specifically, telling a rude passenger to “f— off” over the loudspeaker, grabbing two beers and sliding out the inflatable emergency chute.
Here’s the note JetBlue posted on its "Blue Tales" blog:
Sometimes the weird news is about us…
It wouldn’t be fair for us to point out absurdities in other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it’s about us. Well, this week’s news certainly falls into that category. Perhaps you heard a little story about one of our flight attendants? While we can’t discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet. (The reason we’re not commenting is that we respect the privacy of the individual. People can speak on their own behalf; we won’t do it for them.)
While this episode may feed your inner Office Space, we just want to take this space to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers for delivering the JetBlue Experience you’ve come to expect of us.
You can’t make this shtick up.
No, no you can't.
