Lyft Driver Fired Over “U.S. Jews Say Ceasefire” Sign In His Car

Sergei Kostin, a 61-year-old Lyft driver who has been with the company for eight years, was “deplatformed”, i.e. fired—on Friday, June 21 for having “discriminatory advertisements and books with discriminatory content” displayed in his car. 

For the past eight months, Kostin, a member of the peace group CODEPINK, has decorated the inside of his car with a sign that says “U.S. Jews Say Ceasefire”, as well as “Make Out Not War” stickers and a few pro-peace books that he varies from time to time. 

On Thursday, June 20, Kostin picked up two women in front of the Hamilton Bar and Grill in Washington DC. As soon as the women got into the car, one of them said “I don’t feel comfortable in this car.” They got out and snapped a photo of the sign and other materials.

The following day Kostin  got an email from Lyft saying he was temporarily suspended while they looked into the case. Shocked, Kostin responded, telling them that his life was dedicated to the love of humanity and bringing peace to the world. “This,” he wrote, “is reflected by my consistent track record with hundreds of riders who rate me with 5 stars and make a point of commenting on my friendliness.” 

The next day, Lyft sent him an email saying he had been permanently deactivated. Kostin asked how they could make such a drastic decision without even talking to him. He got no response. 

“This is so unfair. Lyft made a unilateral decision,” said Kostin. “My livelihood has been taken from me and I will lose the car that I leased from Lyft—all because a woman felt uncomfortable with my message calling for a ceasefire.”