Uber Driver Has License Suspended After Booting Kissing Women

EAST VILLAGE, NY — An Uber driver who kicked a lesbian couple out of his cab for kissing had his license suspended by the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission on Tuesday, a spokesman said.

The couple — Alex Iovine, 26, and Emma Pichl, 24 — were headed from a Brooklyn bar to the East Village Sunday afternoon when the couple shared a "peck" on the lips that sent the driver into a rage, during which he demanded they leave his car.

A spokesman for the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission called the driver's behavior "ridiculous."

“The blatantly discriminatory behavior described by the complainant is repugnant, and will not be tolerated in the City of New York,” commission spokesman Allen Fromberg said.

The commission will seek to permanently revoke the license of the driver, Ahmad El Boutari, in court.

Iovine and Pichel had ordered the car after leaving a birthday party at the Gowanus bar Pig Beach. When they leaned in for a kiss, El Boutari pulled over on Canal Street near the Manhattan Bridge and forced the women out of his car, Iovine told Patch on Monday.

"It was just very strange how angry he was," said Iovine. "It was literally a peck. We weren't even sitting next to each other."

A video Iovine posted to YouTube tilted, "Uber driver kicks 2 girls out of his car for being gay" shows El Boutari kicking the women out of his cab and insisting that kissing is "illegal."

Uber has removed El Boutari’s access to its app and is investigating the incident, a spokeswoman said.

Photo courtesy of YouTube/Taxi and Limousine Commission