A man was reportedly booted from a Delta Airlines flight over the weekend for wearing a T-shirt depicting former President Donald Trump making an obscene gesture and a reference to a viral video.
"I'm getting kicked off because of my shirt," the man, who has not been identified, said as he was leaving the plane at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport on Saturday, according to a video placed on Reddit, the New York Post reported.
The man's shirt showed a picture of Trump, wearing American flag sunglasses and holding up two middle fingers, and a remark referring to the "hawk tuah" viral internet clip.
The video, recorded by another passenger, shows the man reading the name tag of the female flight attendant escorting him off the plane.
The person posting the video said the man had been waiting to board the flight when a staffer from the airline told him someone complained about his shirt and he would need to change his clothes or be banned from the flight.
He turned his shirt inside out, but the poster said before the plane could take off, the man, who had flipped his shirt back to the decal side, was being taken from the plane.
According to Delta's Contract of Carriage, the airline can remove passengers by using the company's "sole discretion for the passenger's comfort or safety, for the comfort or safety of other passengers or Delta employees, or for the prevention of damage to the property of Delta or its passengers or employee."
That can include when a passenger's "conduct, attire, hygiene, or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers," the rules state.
Delta Airlines has not commented on the incident.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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