Michigan-based rapper Dank Demoss hailed a Lyft from her home to a football watch party at her cousin’s house last January 18th, but the ridesharing platform denied her the ride out of her physical condition.
Demoss is both a rapper and a businesswoman. According to The Indian Express, she owns an indie label, FSD Records, launched by her father, who died, which is why she took charge of completely managing it.
She has also been part of a reality show. She’s not as popular as Nicki Minaj, Lizzo, and Foxy Brown, but her songs include “Trouble,” “Miss my pops,” “TIME,” “Ring Ring,” “Grind Like Me,” and many others.
Still cannot identify who she is? Don’t worry because this news story isn’t about her, but how her actions of suing Lyft after being denied a ride were not liked by netizens.
Here’s the backstory. USA Today reported that Demoss met the Mercedes Benz sedan arriving about 15 minutes later than the time she booked the ride. When she got in and tried to sit on the couch, the driver just “refused” to let her sit. In her complaint, she stated that the Lyft driver “locked the doors to his vehicle and attempted to drive away,” telling the rapper she was “too big” to get into his car. The driver, she said, canceled the ride.
Aside from those, the rapper also said the driver told her the tires were incapable of supporting her weight, and that she should have hailed a car of the XL size instead.
Her complaint added that the Lyft driver’s actions against her “were intentional in disregard” of her “rights and sensibilities.” For her, she was simply and “unjustly denied a ride.”
Can drivers of ridesharing platforms refuse to accommodate a passenger? They can. First, the USA Today story even quoted the rapper’s lawyers saying that, in the law, a driver can refuse a ride for a passenger as this isn’t illegal, yet they reiterated this is “dangerous.”
Well, ridesharing drivers also have the option to cancel the ride just like how it is from the end of passengers. If being “overweight” isn’t in the driver’s options on why they decided to cancel the ride, they could always choose the “Others” option. Simple as that.
Demoss shared about her bad experience on her official Instagram account, even bravely tagging Lyft’s official account.
“AM I WRONG ? @lyft what yall got to say about this yall driver discriminated against me …… I JUST FEEL LIKE YALL TREAT BIG PPLE LIKE SHYT LIKE WE DONT BELONG HERE,” she wrote in the caption.
However, even the netizens are siding with Lyft, with one even saying even other popular rappers like Lizzo tried her best to join a weight loss program.
“… LIZZO LOOKS GOOD AND YOU CAN DO THE SAME…” @myron_chocolate commented.
Meanwhile, another Instagram netizen said, “Just order Uber Xl ride. Trust me his ride is too low for your weight. Just order Uber Xl period. Maintenance expenses and shocks is real expensive.”
They are right because so far, there are no stringent rules on who shoulders the expenses if a car encounters a damage because of a passenger’s carelessness, or perhaps even because of their weight.