Uber CEO Travis Kalanick apologized on Tuesday evening for his heated behavior towards an Uber driver arguing about low fares. Kalanick was caught with a dash cam arguing with Uber Fawzi Kamel and the footage went viral.
As seen in the video below, Kalanick begins a friendly conversation with Kamel, but it ends in a Heated Argument once Kamel brings up the low fares that were recently implied by Uber. Kalanick explained that the fares were lowered to stay competitive against other ride-sharing companies, mostly referring to Lyft.
The CEO emphasized that the company had to lower the rates.
Uber driver Kamel replied with an idea for Uber to go higher and stay that way. Kamel continued by telling Kalanick that he is a CEO that cannot be trusted anymore. Kamel ended with the fact that he has gone bankrupt due to Uber changing rates all the time.
Kalanick told the driver that it was “Bullsh—“, and kept shouting over the driver’s voice by stating that “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own sh--.” The CEO got out of the car telling the driver “good luck”, while the driver replied with the same gesture. Kamil also added that Kalanick will not go far, implying to his business ethics.
The apology by Travis Kalanick
The CEO quickly apologized for his behavior that was caught on video, quickly going viral.
Kalanick stated that he treated the driver, Fawzi Kamel, with disrespect and that it “cannot be explained away”. There was melancholy seen in the apology as well, as Kalanick kept stating that his actions cannot be explained. Kalanick added that the criticism was a harsh reminder that change needs to be implied.
The Uber CEO continued with the fact that he needs to “change as a leader and grow up”.
He went on to state that he will seek help to be a better leader since he has proven that he lacks in certain parts of that aspect with the incident that occured with Kamil. He ended with a profound apology towards Fawzi Kamel and all Uber drivers. In the meantime, Kamel replied that he was not satisfied with the apology sent via email to 11,000 Uber drivers.
