JetBlue bans white man, donning Burger King crown, after racist scene on New York-bound flight
'We have zero tolerance for racism or harassment,' a spokesperson for the airline said in a statement
A man captured on video disrupting a JetBlue flight and disrespecting a Black passenger and staff has been stripped of his flight privileges with the airline.
The video obtained by TMZ shows the man, who is white and donning a cardboard Burger King crown in the clip, shouting racial slurs at the passenger before takeoff. The plane was leaving Kingston, Jamaica and on its way to the John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York, the New York Post reports.
The incident started over a dispute with the Black woman over a seat on the aircraft. The man became irate, screaming to flight attendants “kick that N****r b***h off the plane” and claiming that she kneed him in the stomach.
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“She kneed me in the stomach. Why are you in my face? Have I created any type of violence since I’ve been on the plane? No,” he yelled at the top of his lungs as one attendant attempted to call him down. “So what? She kneed me in the stomach!”
She then delivered a blunt response, saying “I don’t care what she did. You’re being disrespectful.” The man then tried to speak over her and began yelling again, instructing other passengers to tape the scene. The attendant then gave it to him straight, no sugar: “Shut the f*** up for two seconds.”
“I want a lawsuit!” he responded before jumping out of his seat saying, “I want a f**king lawsuit right now, motherf**ker!” while splashing water on flight staff, causing a raucous scene.
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Moments later a passenger said the man deserved to be kneed in the stomach. The man, defending his use of the slur, said, “excuse me, I’m part West African. I can say n***** any time I want!” while yelling in a Black woman’s face.
Later, several passengers angrily approached the man to assault him, but flight attendants held them back before they could do serious physical damage.
After continuing to shout the n-word, the man was later removed from the plane and carried away in handcuffs. The incident delayed the plane’s arrival to JFK airport by more than an hour.
Following the incident, JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski issued a statement, affectively banning the man from the airline for life.
“We have zero tolerance for racism or harassment, and after reviewing this customer’s abhorrent racist behavior, we have determined he is no longer welcome to fly JetBlue,” Dombrowski said.
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