Political Commentator to Newsmax: Booted Out of Lyft Over Politics

Independent political commentator Shane Pratt told Newsmax on Wednesday that he was thrown out of his Lyft over his political views.

Pratt was in a Lyft going from downtown Phoenix to a friend's house in Scottsdale when he and his friend started discussing rapper Nicki Minaj's appearance at the Turning Point USA's AmericaFest conference.

"It was like a historic moment for Nicki Minaj to be speaking at Amfest, standing up for Christians in Nigeria and really all over the world," Pratt told Newsmax TV's "The Chris Salcedo Show" on Wednesday.

"The lady asked if we were at the conference, so Steve and I kind of looked at each other, kind of shrugged our shoulders, because you never know who you're dealing with in these circumstances. ... I said, 'You know what? Yeah. We were at the conference.'"

That's when things got heated, he said.

The driver said JD Vance had "been in Russia stealing money, slaughtering my people. You guys are slaughtering my people and taking our money," Pratt told Newsmax.

"And I said, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't think that's the case.' And then it just continued from there. ... She just kept saying over and over and over that we are slaughtering her people, taking their money.

"She asked why our government was going over to Russia to meet with [President Vladimir] Putin for the peace deal, and I said, 'They're trying to get a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.' And she said Putin does not want peace.

"And I said, 'But here's the thing. President [Donald] Trump has done so much to get peace this year with all of these different countries. If there's even a slight opportunity for peace to be had between Russia and Ukraine, why would you not be happy that this administration is actually making steps toward making it happen?"

Pratt, who recorded part of the incident, then asked the woman, "If this place is so bad, why did you come here from your country?" to which she replied, "Would you like to come out of the car?"

She then dropped them off on the side of the highway.

"It's really a wild story. I was just kind of in a daze because, you know, you see these things happening, you hear about these things happening, but when you're actually in the seat, you're like, 'Oh my God, what is happening?'"

Pratt said he filed a complaint with Lyft on the app but didn't hear anything until he shared the video on social media.

"I guess I went viral on X, and then the following day, Lyft reached out to me and said that they had suspended her, that they were looking into the situation and that they had seen on social media that I was potentially looking into legal action," he said.

He was still charged for the Lyft.

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