Al Roker wants the world to know that racial discrimination is still all around. The longtime Today show weatherman, 61, tweeted about an upsetting exchange he had with a Manhattan taxi driver on Saturday, Nov. 21.
“Filed a complaint today after getting passed up again by a NYC Yellow cab. Cabbie picked up a white guy a block away. Wonder why Uber wins?” Roker tweeted. “This happens to folks of color every day. And while most cabbies do their job, there are those ignorant, racist ones who hurt the others.”
The disturbing incident was intensified by the fact that Roker was with his son, Nick. (Roker and his wife, Deborah Roberts, share kids Nick and Leila.)
“What really hurts, my 13 yr. old boy was with me and asked why the cabbie passed us,” he continued. “I said, ‘Nick, ignorant people make dumb choices.’ Hopefully @nyctaxi weeds out the bad apples. Looking forward to a hearing and dealing with this. I will keep you posted.”
The father of two was immediately attacked by commenters on Twitter, claiming he was pulling the race card. Roker then defended himself, further explaining, “he pull up, I reached for the door, took off and went for the guy a block away. He saw me and took off for another fare. Not a laughing matter. Trying to get a sick kid to the dr. and you get passed, you go blind with rage. Not funny.”