Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary Faces Backlash After Controversial Comments Over Muslim Men At Airports, Airline May Face Boycott

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is drawing criticism for stating that single, Muslim men are the largest terror threat to airlines and that they should be profiled at airports.

"Who are the bombers? They are going to be single males travelling on their own. If you are travelling with a family of kids, on you go; the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero,” O’Leary told the Sunday Times on Saturday. "You can't say stuff, because it's racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion. Thirty years ago it was the Irish. If that is where the threat is coming from, deal with the threat."

Leaders in the U.K.’s Muslim community swiftly condemned O’Leary’s comments.

"In Germany this week a white person killed eight people. Should we profile white people to see if they're being fascists?" British Labour politician Khalid Mahmoud said in response to O’Leary’s comments. Nine people were killed in a far-right attack in the German town of Hanau this week, which targeted victims of immigrant backgrounds.

The Muslim Council of Britain called O’Leary’s remarks "racist and discriminatory.”

Some Twitter users called for a boycott of Ryanair.

“Why can someone like O'Leary spread Islamophobia like this today? Because he thinks people don't care,” German politician Ali Bas tweeted. “It’s time to boycott #Ryanair. Also for many other reasons.”

Others drew historical parallels between O’Leary’s comments and how the English dealt with Irish terrorism during the Troubles.

“Irish @Ryanair founder says Muslim men traveling alone should be singled out for extra security as most likely to be terrorists,” Stockholm University Professor Christian Christensen said. “Pretty rich, given English used same logic -- all Irish/Catholics are potential terrorists -- to discriminate against and harass Irish for decades.”

O’Leary has made controversial comments in the past. He has called concerns about climate change “complete and utter rubbish” and made negative remarks about overweight flight passengers.

Ireland-based Ryanair is the leading low-cost airline in Europe.