The ride-sharing service has already had a tough start to 2017 with Susan Fowler, a former Uber engineer claiming she and other women were subjected to sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour while working for the company.
Now, Bloomberg has received footage from Uber Black driver Fawzi Kamel of an altercation he had while giving Uber CEO Travis Kalanick a ride in early February.
In the video, Kalanick is seated in the back seat with two female companions. One of the unidentified women states that she has heard the company is having a tough year. Kalanick responds:
"I make sure every year is a hard year... that's kind of how I roll," Kalanick said.
"If it’s easy, I’m not pushing hard enough.”
After reaching their destination, the driver, Kamel, turns around and tells Kalanick:
"I lost $97,000 because of you, I'm bankrupt because of you."
"You keep changing every day!"
"You changed the whole business - you dropped the prices - we started with $20. How much is the mile now $2.75?"
The CEO finished the conversation claiming that his driver needed to take responsibility for his own problems.
"You know what? Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit - they like to blame all their problems on somebody else!"
"I want to profoundly apologize to Fawzi, as well as the driver and rider community, and to the Uber team."
