I appreciate when “official” social media accounts use humor as a means of trying to diffuse difficult situations.
Apparently French pornstar Nikita Bellucci doesn’t, however. Via The Local, earlier in the week she was traveling from Budapest to Paris Orly on Transavia (an Air France subsidiary), when she was delayed. So she wrote to @TransaviaFR, the airline’s Twitter account.
@NikitaBellucciX => vol est prévu pour 14h30. C'est juste qu'avec vous on préfète quand ça dure. 😉 Bonne journée, je reste disponible. 🙂
— Transavia France (@transaviaFR) October 12, 2015
Here’s the translation:
“Can we have some information about Flight TO3743. It’s been delayed four times this morning. There’s no information in Budapest,” she wrote to @TransaviaFR.
Whoever was in charge of the Twitter account obviously knew who Ms Bellucci was, or did a little research on her Twitter account, and couldn’t resist making a joke.
“Flight is scheduled for 14.30. It’s just that with you, we prefer when it lasts longer. Have a good day. I remain available,” read the tweet, with a winking face.
Unfortunately she wasn’t amused by the joke, and Transavia later apologized:
“Bunch of bastards. I will never fly with your rubbish company again”, she responded although her tweet was later deleted.
Minutes later Transavia tried to calm the Twittersphere by making a heartfelt apology.
“I am sorry you were offended by this joke. I was just trying to lighten the mood. Again, I’m sorry. The plane will leave shortly,” read the tweet.
I’d say she needs to get laid, but I doubt that’s the problem here. 😉
In all honesty, I thought it was hilarious. It would be one thing if her Twitter account weren’t her “official” pornstar account, in which case I can understand how she might not appreciate them calling her out on it. However, when her Twitter description says “#FrenchPornStar,” she’s clearly not embarrassed of it (to be clear, I don’t think she has any reason to be embarrassed of her career choice either), and maybe should have a sense of humor about what was a very funny comment on the part of the airline’s Twitter team.
What do you think — was Transavia’s response completely out of line and not funny, funny but out of line, or brilliantly played/personalized?
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
It was her "professional" Twitter page, not her personal page. Posting personal things on your professional page is usually not a great idea, to begin with. Everyone needs to realize that the only people following her on her professional page are coworkers, agents, etc, and fans. The fans are there because, well, to put it bluntly but factually, they like to wank it to her pictures. Anyone who is following her on her personal page...
It was her "professional" Twitter page, not her personal page. Posting personal things on your professional page is usually not a great idea, to begin with. Everyone needs to realize that the only people following her on her professional page are coworkers, agents, etc, and fans. The fans are there because, well, to put it bluntly but factually, they like to wank it to her pictures. Anyone who is following her on her personal page are there for other reasons..friends, family, etc. When you tweet on your porn page, 99.9% of the followers are very likely to respond with something sexual. Whether that makes it right or not, it doesn't make it any less true, and you should expect that kind of thing. I would be in her defense 100% if that had been on a personal page of hers, but it wasn't. The guy was trying to be funny. He failed miserably.
The only thing I will chastise the commenter about is that it was from someone who was supposed to be a professional. They were representing a business when they responded with the flight time. Tact & professionalism should be exhibited regardless who they are talking to or where they are chatting at...especially when the tweet was of the nature that it was.
Now, on something said above: she's probably heard it 1,000 times...this is very true. The same joke over and over gets very old, and annoying.
Lucky, I agree 100% with Betsy when she says your comment is in poor taste and crosses the line. I thought you to be a person with integrity; sadly, I was mistaken. TM is right with the suggestion that you should stick with reviewing airlines/hotels, although I'm finding less and less value in those lately.
I'm now wondering if I want to continue reading your blog.
Lucky:
I'm with Elizabeth. Base on all the comments, I would stop digging. I think you should stick with reviewing airline/hotels. You seem to have better discretion there. I also hope you don't have any female employees, since you seem to lack insight on what is appropriate. I thought your mom's comment about "she must be having her period" in a previous post was in poor taste, but this really shows that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Yes, posting on your pornstar account makes it fair game to make such incredibly mild sex jokes. Period.
The suggestion that this joke is harassment in any way, shape or form is utterly pathetic. Inappropriate however? Most definitely.
I'm French not that it really matters but she's a real douchebag on Twitter.
She uses her twitter account to promote her career. If she would have had used her real name and her personal account, I would have understand her reaction but that's not the case.
Could someone with french as their first language weigh in on if they consider the "je reste disponible" as I'm at your disposal in a sexy way or not, is it more
je reste disponible pour tour complement d'information or is it more I'm here if you need a guy
"You dont joke to anyone when the flight was delayed about 4 times, 4 times."
This.
The problem with most of the criticism on this thread is that it ignores that she was posting from her commercial account, whose purpose is to advertise and connect with her fan base, thus increasing her income. A "controversy" like this can only work to improve her earnings, which is the end goal of the twitter account in the first place.
And I loved Ben's joke.
I think that Lucky's comment: "I'd say she needs to get laid, but I doubt that's the problem here " is in poor taste and crosses the line.
You dont joke to anyone when the flight was delayed about 4 times, 4 times.
The whole world needs to lighten up...
@onemileatatime : @qatarairways I'm to fly to Hong Kong on QR-XXX. The flight's been delayed 4 times and there's no info about its departure, can you give an idea ?
@qatarairways : @onemileatatime its scheduled for 14:20. It's just that with you, we know you are loading up on free champagne on our dime. Have a good day.
+1 for the airline crossing the line. I have a pretty good sense of humor and don't mind most jokes but this is crossing the line.
At best this comes out as an unprofessional, inappropriate remark from Transavia. At worst, it's sexual harassment (which is what I believe it is). She was asking for flight information, and in return she got a crude joke that was unwarranted, and that she's probably heard countless times. Just because she's a proud sex worker doesn't mean she deserves to be treated that way (especially if she's just going about her day). An airline using...
At best this comes out as an unprofessional, inappropriate remark from Transavia. At worst, it's sexual harassment (which is what I believe it is). She was asking for flight information, and in return she got a crude joke that was unwarranted, and that she's probably heard countless times. Just because she's a proud sex worker doesn't mean she deserves to be treated that way (especially if she's just going about her day). An airline using humor is one thing, but using it at a passenger's expense is plain wrong. I would expect you of all people (Ben) to see that.
It's just a harmless joke, keep in mind there is a difference in interpretation in North America and Europe. Most Europeans won't see this as harassment while people from North America will. I wouldn't have done it as a airline rep but some people make a big thing over nothing. And in Europe this is nothing so loosen up! ;-)
I agree the reply tweet was in poor taste since it introduced sex to a conversation where it didn't exist previously. Ignoring the sexual harassment angle, I'd point out it took the airline nearly 20 minutes to come up with this response. Perhaps if they spent less time investigating their passenger's day jobs and doing their own it would have been a quicker response.
People keep referring to her usage of her "official" twitter account as an excuse to justify the harassment -- because it's her "work account", anything goes.
Wrong. We all ought to remember that behind every social media account, it's a human being, not a robot, that is conducting all the interactions. It's basic respect. No one deserves that. It all comes down to basic respect and how to treat people. We all have feelings....
People keep referring to her usage of her "official" twitter account as an excuse to justify the harassment -- because it's her "work account", anything goes.
Wrong. We all ought to remember that behind every social media account, it's a human being, not a robot, that is conducting all the interactions. It's basic respect. No one deserves that. It all comes down to basic respect and how to treat people. We all have feelings. The airline hurt her feelings, not to mention it was acting in a total unprofessional way.
I agree with Elizabeth but I found this:
"I think you should both just be thankful that you don’t work in an industry where everyone thinks they can say whatever they want to you, whenever they want to, based on your job."
Pretty ironic considering the written abuse Lucky takes on a daily basis on this blog.
@lucky
So I originally read your translation, and didn't bother to look at the original tweet since it was in French. The way the translation is written, I thought the winky face came after "I remain avaliable." That changed the interpretation a lot for me.
Looking at the original screenshot, now I think your interpretation is more likely. Funny how much placement of a silly emoticon can change things.
So never mind my...
@lucky
So I originally read your translation, and didn't bother to look at the original tweet since it was in French. The way the translation is written, I thought the winky face came after "I remain avaliable." That changed the interpretation a lot for me.
Looking at the original screenshot, now I think your interpretation is more likely. Funny how much placement of a silly emoticon can change things.
So never mind my first post then. I don't think he was saying with that last sentence what I originally thought he did.
@ lucky - I think what you're failing to realize is that there are certain things in society that should be off-limits, no matter how "lighthearted" the intent is or how the subject person presents himself/herself. I (and @ Elizabeth and probably many more people) would include making un-welcomed sexual jokes / innuendos towards a woman among such things. There shouldn't be a presumption that simply because a woman is a pornstar that she welcomes...
@ lucky - I think what you're failing to realize is that there are certain things in society that should be off-limits, no matter how "lighthearted" the intent is or how the subject person presents himself/herself. I (and @ Elizabeth and probably many more people) would include making un-welcomed sexual jokes / innuendos towards a woman among such things. There shouldn't be a presumption that simply because a woman is a pornstar that she welcomes sexual jokes. Nikita is first and foremost a person - not a profession - and, as a person, she should not be the recipient of a sexual joke when she hasn't given any indication that she is welcoming of it (she tweeted to ask for a flight time, nothing else).
I do not read "Je reste disponible" in this context as necessarily a sexual proposition.
However I don't think either party comes out of this well. I think the Transavia employee makes an inappropriate remark. I am also troubled somewhat by the content of her twitter page (in this context) - from which she sent the original tweet. I would have thought it more appropriate to send non-business related tweets (I make no negative...
I do not read "Je reste disponible" in this context as necessarily a sexual proposition.
However I don't think either party comes out of this well. I think the Transavia employee makes an inappropriate remark. I am also troubled somewhat by the content of her twitter page (in this context) - from which she sent the original tweet. I would have thought it more appropriate to send non-business related tweets (I make no negative judgement on how she makes her living) from a more neutral account. I'm afraid some people would find her twitter account itself offensive.
So what if she was in the middle of a shoot and stopped for the day or maybe they went out for lunch (I suspect they don't got to lunch but lets pretend). So she might have makeup on but otherwise dressed like everyone else. They're at lunch and the food is taking forever. She asks the waiter, "Do you know when our order will be ready? We've been waiting for a while now". The...
So what if she was in the middle of a shoot and stopped for the day or maybe they went out for lunch (I suspect they don't got to lunch but lets pretend). So she might have makeup on but otherwise dressed like everyone else. They're at lunch and the food is taking forever. She asks the waiter, "Do you know when our order will be ready? We've been waiting for a while now". The waiter responds, "It should be out soon but if you're hungry now I can provide you something you snack on. I'll be in the back". Sexual harassment? Inappropriate? What if it was at lunch vs dinner? Is she still technically working so that's fine? She had makeup on from the shoot and maybe looks like a porn star. That means she invited that comment?
While I agree she shouldn't have used a "work" persona twitter account I don't think that gives people free will to reply to her in such a way. It's the context the person who started the conversation. She initiated the dialogue with no sexual indications and the other person took it to a sexual place. If she had said, "I'm used to long things buy these delays are ridiculous" then a sexual reply would be fine.
I originally started writing a post to disagree with Elizabeth, but after thinking about it more, I agree with her -- sexual harassment.
The first part of the tweet read just a joke, and though not really funny to me, totally fine from a moral standpoint as fast as I'm concerned.
The last line is a proposition for sex. That's harassment. She's not a prostitute. And she doesn't deserve to be treated as if...
I originally started writing a post to disagree with Elizabeth, but after thinking about it more, I agree with her -- sexual harassment.
The first part of the tweet read just a joke, and though not really funny to me, totally fine from a moral standpoint as fast as I'm concerned.
The last line is a proposition for sex. That's harassment. She's not a prostitute. And she doesn't deserve to be treated as if she actually would have sex with some random stranger that propositions her on Twitter. That's not what a porn star does. So up until that last sentence, I would have agreed and called it a harmless joke. But if you actually respect her choice of profession, which you claim to do, then taken add a whole, the tweet is inappropriate and rude.
... getting of my porn-defending moral high horse now.
@ Andy -- Which part is? Saying "I remain available?" Didn't at all interpret it that way. If that was the intent I agree that it crossed the line, though I just read that as the standard customer service line of "we're here to help however we can," as social media channels often do when interacting with people (even when making a joke).
I don't agree with either of you (Ben or Kevin) and here's why: She didn't post a nude which was then commented on. She sent a tweet asking for information about a flight time and then she was harassed based on what she does for a living as revealed by her Twitter page. The fact that she works in that industry doesn't mean that she can or should be harassed when she uses her Twitter...
I don't agree with either of you (Ben or Kevin) and here's why: She didn't post a nude which was then commented on. She sent a tweet asking for information about a flight time and then she was harassed based on what she does for a living as revealed by her Twitter page. The fact that she works in that industry doesn't mean that she can or should be harassed when she uses her Twitter account for something not related to her job. If I send you a Tweet asking for advice on which airline to travel does that mean you can appropriately write me back and tell me you hate all trademark lawyers? Not really. My job shouldn't factor into your response to my questions. I think you should both just be thankful that you don't work in an industry where everyone thinks they can say whatever they want to you, whenever they want to, based on your job.
@ Elizabeth -- But there's nothing hateful about it. He's not saying "I hate pornstar/lawyers." It's intended to be lighthearted. Using the lawyer equivalent, it would be like someone with "#FrenchLawyer" in their Twitter profile who constantly Tweets about legal rulings, and the airline responding "sorry about the delay, hopefully you don't sue us!"
@credit- You took that way too far
Ben do you call black guys niggers because you have seen blacks call each other that?
@ credit -- No...?
Her Twitter account is her porn account; when you post from an account laden with x-rated info, it's fair game!
She'd pretty good looking, I don't blame the guy for making a joke if she used her porn account to tweet. If she doesn't want the notoriety use a regular account instead of one showing off her "assets" blatantly. And before the feminists come rushing in, its a fact of life and you all wish you looked as good as her.
Have you seen her Twitter Page?
Just because she makes her living in adult entertainment doesn't give anyone the right to sexually harass her. It's a little sad that you don't realize that, Mr. "I think it is hilarious."
@ Elizabeth -- Sorry, I just don't buy that. So if she posts nudes on Twitter and someone makes a sexual comment complimenting them, would it be considered sexual harassment? Because if someone said "nice t*ts" to a non-pornstar, it certainly could be considered sexual harassment. But when someone makes a living off of their body and posts pictures of it, I wouldn't consider that "sexual harassment." Would you?
The problem is people don't stop & think how many times she's heard the same frickin' joke. How many times are you supposed to keep smiling when you're off the clock? At some point you do snap. She might not have been angered on another day but when she's already at the end of her rope then "smile honey" is not the right tack to take...
Ben, does it worth to "purchase" BA miles for 0.014 GBP? It's about 0.022 USD.
I can pay my taxes with credit card (only Visa and MC) but HMRC charges a 1.4% fee for credit card payment. Therefore a 10,000 GBP tax bill paid by card costs 140 GBP in fees and I would get 10,000 Avios after the transaction. If I would purchase Avios directly from BA then I would pay 0.0164 GBP for it.
Ben, do it worth to "purchase" BA miles for 0.014 GBP? It's about 0.022 USD.
I can pay my taxes with credit card (only Visa and MC) but HMRC charges a 1.4% fee for credit card payment. Therefore a 10,000 GBP tax bill paid by card costs 140 GBP in fees and I would get 10,000 Avios. If I would purchase Avios directly from BA then I would pay 0.0164 GBP for it.