A passenger was reportedly removed from a Delta Airlines flight due to his controversial attire. The man was wearing a shirt featuring an image of former President Donald Trump making an obscene gesture, accompanied by a phrase referencing a popular internet video. The incident occurred at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport on a Saturday morning and was shared on the Reddit group r/delta.
The shirt, which depicted Trump in sunglasses colored like the American flag and making an offensive hand gesture, was deemed inappropriate by the airline. The phrase on the shirt, “Hawk tuah spit on that thang,” is a reference to a viral internet video. The passenger was seen in a video walking down the aisle with his luggage, announcing that he was being removed from the flight due to his shirt.
The passenger also made a comment about a female flight attendant named Wendy, who was escorting him off the plane. The Reddit user who posted the video, SKBeachGirl, stated that the man was asked to change his shirt or face removal from the plane after a complaint was made about his attire. The man complied by turning his shirt inside out, and the flight proceeded to board.
However, just before takeoff, a Delta employee boarded the plane and escorted the man off the flight. According to SKBeachGirl, the man had reverted his shirt back to its original, controversial side.
Delta Airlines reserves the right to remove passengers from its flights for various reasons, including if a passenger’s “conduct, attire, hygiene or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers,” as stated in Delta’s Contract of Carriage. The airline has not yet commented on this specific incident.
This is not the first time Delta has faced controversy over its dress code. Earlier this year, a female passenger claimed she was almost removed from a Delta flight for not wearing a bra. The woman, a DJ named Lisa Archbold, stated that she was temporarily escorted off a plane from Salt Lake City to San Francisco because a gate agent deemed her attire “revealing” and “offensive,” despite her breasts not being visible.