Toronto Man Overheard People Behind Him Talk Racist Smack About Him. He Spoke Up When the Plane Took Off: ‘I Can Kill Him With Kindness’

Never talk smack about people in a different language, because there’s at least a one percent chance that they can understand every word. Ademola Jola (@ademolajola), a Nigerian-Canadian man from Toronto, boarded a plane to Bangkok. A fellow passenger from behind him started saying racist things about Jola in Japanese—and he understood every word. What Jola did next stunned the man into shame.

“Guys, I’m telling you, do not talk shit about people in a public space, even if it’s in another language that you think no one can understand unless you’re ready to face the consequences,” he said on TikTok. As a rule of thumb, it’s always best to keep the worst thoughts to oneself. But that’s not what happened in Jola’s awkward airplane encounter.

He and his fiancée were at the airport on their way to Bangkok, a city they both love. They got in the airplane and hoped that nobody would sit beside them.

“Because as you know, every person’s dream when you get on an airplane is to have extra space and no one beside you,” he explained. There are multiple instances of airline customers complaining about the lack of legroom in planes. So, when the flight attendant announced that the plane was fully boarded, he and his fiancée rejoiced that they got extra room for themselves.

Randomly attacked by a racist

The celebration would be cut short after he heard the conversation from behind him. As he was about to close his eyes and nap throughout the flight, Jola heard three friends speaking in Japanese behind him. They were initially talking about being scared of flying.

“Oh, I’m super scared,” the man said in Japanese. Then, he noticed Jola and gave a bit of a commentary.

“And there’s a black guy beside me? I’m terrified!” he added.

Jola understood every word because Japanese is his second language.

“Why am I catching strays? This is crazy,” Jola said, shocked that someone would say that about him. But the people behind him were laughing as if their friend had made a good joke. One of the men spoke up to warn his friend.

“Careful bro, you don’t know who’s listening!” the man said, in perhaps the best advice anyone at that moment could give. But his friend was far too stubborn.

“I don’t care if anyone hears me,” the man said, standing by his racist commentary from earlier. By this point, Jola was mad—debating whether or not he should confront the man behind him. Jola acknowledged that he was tired and running on three hours of sleep, which also meant that he didn’t feel like he was at his best self.

An act of chaotic good

“How can I let this asshole know that I know exactly what he said?” Jola asked himself mentally, and he decided not to respond immediately. He had three hours to teach the man a lesson. But as the plane started ascending, the man from behind him started looking through the seat pocket.

From the conversation the man had with his friends, he mentioned that he was afraid of flying. He must have been looking for the barf bag. From the looks of it, Jola recalled that the man looked like he was about to throw up.

“This is my opportunity. I can kill him with kindness,” he said. Jola grabbed the disposable bag in front of him and turned to the man.

“Are you alright? I have an extra bag if you need it,” he told the man in Japanese. The man was too stunned to speak. He could only muster a hand gesture, waving to tell Jola that he didn’t need the barf bag.

“When I tell you, all of the anger and rage in my body at that point disappeared,” Jola said, satisfied with his calm comeback.

“I just know he spent the next three and a half hours replaying the conversation with his friends in his head to try and figure out what I’d heard. And that, in itself, is better than anything I can ask for,” he concluded. Jola imagined that these moments would be fiery and that he’d resort to “verbal violence.” But after the encounter, he realized that killing with kindness is the “peak” way to respond to rude people.

(featured images: Aibek Skalov, Ademola Jola, Brady Knoll)

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