The passenger lowered his facemask to consume an in-flight snack and was then kicked off the aircraft.
The unnamed passenger moments before Southwest kicked him off their flight (Twitter)
Many American companies have this year embraced the Black Lives Matter movement and the battle for social justice.
However, when the company is a consumer-facing business they sometimes just can’t help doing things that look really, really bad.
Certainly, Southwest Airlines has fallen into such a trap this week after it appeared to throw a Black passenger off a plane for nothing more than daring to lower his mask to nibble on a few nuts.
The man, who was wearing a “Trump 2020” mask was kicked off the Tuesday morning Tampa-Dallas flight, the video appears to show.
The passenger — who was also sporting a “Black Voices for Trump” hat — is seen talking to a crew member while holding a bag of mixed nuts and wearing a face mask under his chin.
“Tell us the policy that says he cannot eat with his mask off?” a woman filming the video can be heard asking in the footage shared by SV News. “It’s the hat and the mask — it’s not the eating.”
A second video then shows the man leaving the SouthWest Airlines flight.
The incident — which Southwest said came after the man repeatedly refused to wear a mask — was soon tweeted by Donald Trump Jr., who attacked the airline.
“WTF??? This is disgusting. I’ve been on a thousand flights in the last few months and everyone lowers their masks to eat and drink. I did it on a southwest flight earlier this week,” he wrote.
However, Southwest Airlines insisted it took action to remove the man after several cabin crew had asked him to wear a face covering, according to the Washington Examiner.
“Our reports indicate that a Customer traveling on Flight 2632, with scheduled service from Tampa to Dallas, was asked repeatedly by more than one employee at different times to wear a face mask. The customer did not comply with our crew’s multiple verbal requests — including while boarding the flight before seated,” the company rep said.
“The decision was made to return to the gate and re-accommodate him on a later flight to his final destination after receiving assurances he would comply with our face-covering policy. We regret the inconvenience the situation created for all involved, but our crew must uphold the well-being and comfort of all Passengers.”
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