A Toronto model was allegedly kicked out of her Uber ride after the driver learned that she was Jewish.
News of the incident was first reported by the National Post, a Canadian-English newspaper.
Miriam Mattova, 33, told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday that she got into an Uber on Dundas Street in Toronto on November 30 and was FaceTiming a friend, telling her about a recent mission trip she took to Israel.
Mattova said the female driver then abruptly slammed on her brakes and told her to get out of the car at a busy intersection.
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“I immediately ended my call and asked, like, why they’re stopping. And they told me that they feel uncomfortable with me in the car,” Mattova said. “So I asked why, because I didn’t do anything wrong. And then I got an answer that they don’t drive Jewish people.”
An Uber spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the company has reached out to both parties as part of its review of the incident.
“We’re sorry for the experience this rider reported. Discrimination has no place on our platform, and we take concerns like this very seriously. We’ve been in contact with both the rider and the driver to understand from each of them what happened and have taken appropriate action.”
The former Miss Slovakia and Canadian national said she and the friend who booked her Uber filed detailed complaints with the company after the incident unfolded.
“Canada has always been a place I believed in. That’s the reason why I moved back here. And welcoming, diverse, respectful. And we all share responsibility to ensure it stays that way. And speaking up isn’t about me playing a victim role. I just want to make that very clear. It’s about drawing a line and standing in our truth and inspiring that hatred against any religion or community, not just the Jewish people,” said Mattova. “And I think that every incident like this should have consequences, in this case for the driver and for the large company, called Uber.”
Her lawyer, Howard Levitt, told Fox News Digital that his client is seeking an apology, the driver’s termination, a donation to an Israeli charity of her choosing, and a requirement that all Uber drivers acknowledge a no-discrimination policy going forward.
“We’ve demanded they terminate the relationship with the driver, and they’ve refused to respond to that at all. They claim privacy, which is absolute nonsense,” Levitt said. “First of all, no one even knows the driver’s name, so there’s no privacy issue. And secondly, most decent companies are anxious to tell the world that they would fire someone like that.”
Mattova traveled to Israel in early November to witness the horrors of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel. She visited Kibbutz Be’eri and spoke with former hostage Ofir Engel, who was kidnapped along with his girlfriend’s father.
She told Fox News Digital that this is not the first antisemitic incident she has faced in Canada, and wants people to “stand tall and address modern antisemitism.”
