Fez — French Montana has stepped in to support New York City taxi driver Noureddine Bitat after a viral video showed a crowd damaging his yellow cab during celebrations following the New York Knicks’ Game 4 win in the NBA Finals.
The Moroccan-born rapper presented Bitat with a $75,000 (nearly MAD 699,000) check raised through a GoFundMe campaign and pledged to cover one year of living expenses, giving the driver time to recover and decide whether he can return to work.
Bitat, a 59-year-old driver from Algeria, had stopped near Seventh Avenue and 36th Street when a crowd surrounded his cab, smashed the windshield, opened the doors and trunk, and pulled him from the vehicle. He later described feeling afraid for his life during the attack.
French Montana said the video pushed him to act because he saw a working man lose his livelihood in seconds. “I just saw a man trying to feed his family,” he said.
The incident also resonated personally with the rapper. French Montana moved from Morocco to the US with his family at age 13, and his father worked as a taxi driver after the family settled in New York.
French Montana joined YouTuber Zachery Dereniowski and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance to organize a GoFundMe campaign for Bitat. The fundraiser passed its $75,000 goal, with more than 2,000 donors contributing to help cover repairs, losses, and living expenses.
The attack left Bitat shaken and unsure about returning to work. He suffered dizziness, back pain, broken glasses, and a diabetic episode that sent him to the hospital, while the Taxi Workers Alliance said he remains traumatized from the assault.
French Montana described the gesture as a community effort, thanking Dereniowski, the taxi union, GoFundMe, and everyone who joined the campaign to make Bitat’s life easier.
