November 16, 2018
Watch: Florida Man Says Uber Driver Offered to Swap Ride for Sex
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
A Florida man told a local NBC affiliate that an Uber driver offered to forgo the fare for the ride in exchange for a sexual encounter, News Channel NBC 6 reported.
According to news reports, when Matthew Marston called for an Uber on the morning of Nov. 12, he got a text message from the driver who was en route to pick up that read, "Hey, I'll give you a free ride if you let me..."
NBC 6 did not explicitly complete the sentence, but a screenshot of the exchange featured in the news clip showed text with key passages blurred out that seemed to refer to oral sex.
"Of course I canceled the Uber, but I was uncomfortable calling another Uber," Marston told the media. "You know I thought about calling out of work," he went on to say.
Other news outlets picked up in the story and noted that, according to Marston, he was charged a $5 fee when he canceled the ride. Uber said that the company refunded that charge. Uber also said that it was looking into the incident, and suggested that a person other than the driver in question may have sent the text.
Watch the NBC 6 clip below.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
