Muslim comedian Mo Amer had a surreal experience Wednesday night when he was seated next to none other than Eric Trump on a flight from Newark, New Jersey to Scotland.
“I was just walking in and he was just sitting there with his Trump shirt on and I was like, Is this real?” Amer said in an interview with Buzzfeed. “So when I walked into the plane I was like, ‘What is this?’ This is obviously from Allah—Allah is just trying to hook me up right now. That’s what’s happening.”
Amer, who is part of the comedy trio Allah Made Me Funny, said he confronted the president-elect’s son and said that he would refuse to participate in a Muslim registry. According to Amer, Trump responded, “Ah, come on, man. You can’t believe everything you read. Do you really think we’re gonna do that?” (Though some Trump surrogates haven’t shied away from the concept of a Muslim registry.)
The Arab-American comedian says the pair talked about the election—including both Trump’s father Donald and Hillary Clinton—and that Eric Trump’s input made him seem like a “robot” who was “all about business.”
“He also seemed disconnected from the reality of race attacks and violence,” said Amer. “The vibe that I got, this was a game to them and they had no regrets and they did it to win and they will most likely keep doing it.”
The conversation, which Amer says was mostly “pleasant,” lasted about a half hour before Trump ordered a pork chop and fell asleep. Though many people would have been uncomfortable sitting next to Trump, who along with his siblings played a hefty role in his father’s campaign, Amer saw the experience as an opportunity.
“As a comedian it’s my responsibility, it’s my duty, to find out as much information as possible to provide an accurate commentary,” he told Buzzfeed. “So for me it’s like I’m not rejecting a gift from the divine. Are you kidding me? 'I just gave it to you on a platter. Do you want to deny this whole situation?' Of course not, I’m gonna jump right in.”
