Lil Pump has been banned from flying JetBlue Airways after refusing to wear a mask during his flight from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles on Sunday. The 20-year-old rapper, whose real name is Gazzy Garcia, reportedly grew "verbally abusive with crew members after being asked multiple times and refusing to comply with JetBlue's face covering policy," JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said in a statement to Billboard.
According to correspondence from the flight deck, which was obtained by TMZ, Lil Pump was noncompliant with JetBlue's mask policy. The airline requires all customers 2 years and older to wear a face covering throughout the duration of their flight, but the "Gucci Gang" singer reportedly removed his mask mid-flight and refused to put it back on. Things escalated when he began to sneeze and cough into a blanket without wearing his mask. The correspondence also mentions Lil Pump growing verbally abusive with crew members.
Law enforcement eventually had to intervene.
"Law enforcement was asked to meet the flight to assist our crewmembers in notifying the customer his return reservation was canceled and he is no longer welcome to fly on JetBlue," the statement to Billboard continued. "The safety of all customers and crewmembers is JetBlue's first priority."
JetBlue was the first U.S. airline to impose a face covering mandate on customers during travel in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
“Wearing a face covering isn’t about protecting yourself, it’s about protecting those around you,” Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's president and chief operating officer, told USA Today earlier this year. "Onboard, cabin air is well circulated and cleaned through filters every few minutes but this is a shared space where we have to be considerate of others. We are also asking our customers to follow these CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines in the airport as well."
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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