Tatiana Kozlenko, Flight Attendant Fired for Middle Finger, Viral PHOTO: Denies Flipping Off Russian Aeroflot Flight Full of Passengers
According to several reports, Russian flight attendant Tatiana Kozlenko was recently fired from her position at Aeroflot Airlines after a photo of her allegedly flipping off a flight full of passengers went viral on the web. The alleged image of Kozlenko, clearing embellishing the middle finger to a bunch of oblivious passengers from the back row of an airplane, was originally uploaded onto Vkontakte (Russia's version of Facebook) in October 2011, but didn't making its viral rounds on Twitter until recently. Aeroflot managers ultimately fired Kozlenko for her inappropriate behavior and attitude, although the former flight attendant heatedly denies ever busting out the middle finger while onboard a flight.
In a recent Facebook statement issued by Aeroflot in regards to Kozlenko's termination, the airline explains that "posting this photo shows Tatiana's attitude towards passengers and her duties... [Kozlenko] acknowledged her fault when she spoke to her managers."
But according to Kozlenko, she's been falsely accused. She admits to tagging herself in the viral middle finger photo, but swears that the insulting hand gesture definitely doesn't belong to her:
"I don't consider myself guilty! The photo was added to my page, I only tagged myself on it!!! The hand isn't mine, the plane is not my company's!!! I don't understand what they spoil my life for!!! I'm asking you for help and support!!'" Kozlenko wrote on her popular Vkontakte account.
The controversial image first appeared on Kozlenko's Vkontakte page back in October 2011, and immediately racked up a slew of "likes." A Russian blogger then recently uploaded the pic onto Twitter, and it was quickly re-tweeted hundreds of times. That's when Aeroflot took notice, and promptly fired Kozlenko.
Kozlenko isn't the only young woman who recently found herself in hot water after flipping the bird...
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