Air Malta action over ‘proud to be racist’ pilot

Air Malta is taking disciplinary action against one of its pilots who said he was “proud to be racist” in reaction to a Facebook post about a young soldier’s shocking murder in London. Distancing itself from Captain Kevin Whitehead’s comments, the national airline condemned its employee’s comments. Capt. Whitehead was replying to a post by a Facebook user that read “as already said I am not a racist but this cannot continue”, accompanying a CNN article on the brutal assault. Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, was hacked to death in Woolwich, southeast London, on Wednesday. One of the attackers was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver, saying: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.” As investigators were trying to establish the motive behind the murder, social media flooded with xenophobic and Islamo­phobic comments. But Capt. Whitehead’s post that he was “proud to be a racist” did not impress his employers, especially as he is seen wearing an Air Malta uniform on his Facebook profile. A British man who lives in Malta drew the airline’s attention to Mr Whitehead’s comment, noting he did not know the pilot, but it took him seconds to find out he was an Air Malta...