Young Vic theatre boss Kwame Kwei-Armah has said a woman removed her mask to cough in the face of his 15-year-old son on public transport.

The director and playwright, who is black, said the white woman said to her son: “This is what you people do.”

He added that his son has since tested negative for coronavirus.

Kwei-Armah tweeted: “I don’t speak of my family on social but last week my 15-year-old was on a train when an adult white woman out of the blue removed her mask and coughed in his face.

“She ran off the train shouting, ‘This is what you people do’.

“Covid test has just come in negative. We are relieved. But really?”

Kwei-Armah has been the artistic director of the Young Vic theatre since 2018.

His directing credits include New York’s Public Theatre, Signature Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

His production of One Night In Miami at the Donmar Warehouse was nominated for an Olivier Award for best new play.