"Yellowstone" actor Forrie J. Smith said he was removed from a flight after refusing to sit next to a passenger who was wearing a face mask.
Smith, stranded at a Houston airport, shared his experience in a video posted on Instagram.
"You know, my social media people tell me that you like me face-to-face, but you know what, I can't say face-to-face what I want," he said in the video, which he captioned, "You need to hear this story."
"Like, I just got kicked off a plane and … where the hell am I at — Houston, Texas — because I told them I didn't feel comfortable sitting next to somebody with a mask on."
Smith, 65, admitted that he had been drinking but was not drunk.
"I've been sitting in an airport for three hours," he said. "Yeah, I'm drinking. I ain't drunk, but they throw me off the plane because I'm drunk, because you people won't stand up and tell everybody what [expletive] this is."
It's not clear which airline Smith was traveling on.
Smith has been open about his public health views in the past. In 2022, he opted out of attending the Screen Actors Guild Awards because of the COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
"I want to apologize to y'all for not being at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I mean no offense to anyone. I'm not vaccinated, and it's a requirement to be vaccinated," he said in a since-deleted Instagram video, according to Variety.
"I'm not vaccinated, I will not get vaccinated. I haven't been vaccinated since I was a little kid. I don't vaccinate my dogs, I don't vaccinate my horses. I've never had a flu shot. I never will. I believe they compromise your immunities. ... It's just my beliefs. I just don't believe in that stuff. Whatever."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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