On a United Airlines flight to Houston on Saturday, rapper DJ Drama filmed a passenger being removed from the aircraft – and was then removed himself.
The aptly-named Drama, née Tyree Simmons, posted video of the removal to Instagram – and also video of the aftermath, where he’s being ejected from first class.
In the first video a flight attendant orders him to turn off his phone as the other passenger stands on the jetway after departing the aircraft. He appears to have complied with this request.
We then pick up where a United supervisor is asking the 42 year old hip hop star whether he’ll comply with mask rules. So there may have been a mask violation, but he clearly agrees to wear a mask. And the interest in him may have been heightened by the prior filming.
Then he’s asked to step off the plane to speak to police. United lies to him and tells him he’s not being removed, that the police ‘just want to talk to him’. Hint: whenever you’re asked to step off the aircraft to speak to police, you aren’t returning to travel on your original itinerary.
It appears the musician wasn’t wearing a mask, was asked once to put one on, and complied. Based on posted footage he appears to have remained respectful throughout. He should have been wearing a mask, but the usual procedure isn’t to eject a passenger who complies when instructed to do so. So the reason for being kicked off the flight is indeed subject to speculation…
(HT: C Boarding Group)
I’d love to see United’s response. This was all the flight attendant. No question in my mind. Guess they don’t mind calling the cops on compliant black people.
Houston is not a good airport bend rules. They are super anal. A ground staff supervisor spotted him on the aircraft without a mask, that’s asking for trouble. When I arrive in Houston with my usual bag full of mezcal, I declare everything. Otherwise I assume I would be drawn and quartered by CBP in an alley behind Terminal D and my head placed on a spare tail stand outside the immigration path.
Is the excuse something akin to filming of sorts not allowed on board the plane?
If so, how come this airline hasn’t had thousands of passengers get off the plane due to “prohibited” filing in the plane cabin?
Totalitarian state racism at its very worst! and that comes from me, a 70 year old white guy!
Regulators need to step in when it gets to the point where airlines start kicking off passengers for documenting airline behavior—if, in fact, that is what happened here.
Well at least they didn’t play basketball with his head. That was reserved for another non-white guy.
But then as a soon to retire United captain told me at a glider flight training camp we were both attending, “The company motto is, ‘We’re not happy until you’re not happy.'”
What a racist set of actions actions by United. There is no happiness is United land.
Flying +100.000 miles a year around the world (before CoVID) I have seen my share of discussions with flight attendants. I know the other side as well since got to know a lot of airline personell and I spent time with them between flights. By what I have seen here it is the flight attendant who did everything wrong and the ramp agent being inconsistent handling the situation. Both should get a clear warning and “a few days off” from United management. And yes, I guess the passenger is up for a high compensation and a clear excuse.
Unknown rappers should be riding Greyhound, skin color irrelevant.
@Gene
The only racism that exists is anti white racism where whites are systematically disenfranchised by government/academia/corporate America and told they are evil for existing, evil for wanting to have a voice/caucus like every other racial group, and are not allowed to be upset at their genocide via forced demographic destruction through open borders and culture war.
Many white people are subject to the same thing on flights. Cops are evil. They blindly follow orders and enforce leftist laws. Cops are not on our side (conservatives). They are on the side of their paychecks and pensions. Flight attendants are the new NKVD who are happy to lead us to the gulags for fidgeting with a mask. Flight attendants routinely abuse their authority over aircraft and flight safety for things completely unrelated. They often perform poor service (their jobs) and bring up the aircraft safety card when someone calls them out on it.
There has been numerous stories of white people being removed from aircraft for similar (mask/etc) reasons. No one screams racism. In America, if a black person is removed from a plane, everyone will blame the flight attendants and government. If a white person is removed from the flight, everyone will blame the white person. Racial privilege is real. Blacks commit 52% of the homicides despite being 13% of the population and commit interracial rapes at a ratio of 50,000 to 1. No one calls the race out on this. They make excuses. Whites, however, are guilty of everything because on average they commit less crime, are more peaceful, build complex societies and technology, and want freedom.
The only mistakes white people make is to support cops when cops are the ones enforcing laws they consider evil. The basis for being a conservative is not believing the government should be telling us what we can and can not do with our own bodies. Conservatives should hate the police when they enforce all drug laws/seat belt laws/mask laws/speech laws/nanny state laws. Unfortunately, they more times than not praise the “heroes” just doing their jobs when their jobs is to be the violent enforcers of government policies they hate. Cops are the big government. Flight attendants are now power happy with their “federal” power and like playing federal agent who can make filming an altercation/incident for legal reasons (free speech) a federal offense or for fidgeting with a mask.
Love how so many say it’s racism, having not been there nor knowing ANYTHING about what happened. You people are morons.
@Jackson – you are one racist twat. And likely a Russian bot…never ever a single travel-related post.
So the fact that he was asked four times to put his mask on before this doesn’t seem to matter to “drama.” The recording does not tell the entire story’ it witnesses on the plane do.
@UA-NYC
You’re a pot calling the kettle black. You’re likely a Chinese bot defending the ccp like actions done by the federal and various state governments. You may think flight attendants deserve special status as agents of the government. I think it is very dangerous given U.S. flight attendants are known to abuse their power over non flight safety issues. Flight attendants are bad to all groups equally. One day it is a white person. The next it is an orthodox couple with a 3 year old who fidgeted with a mask, or it is this guy who was filming (documenting evidence of a possible situation) and did nothing wrong. If people stopped making anti white comments on here, I wouldn’t bring it up.
A lot here don’t do travel related posts because few have traveled in 12 months. Nearly all discussions are about how travel “will” be when it opens up and politics are 100% involved in it. Boardingarea has 40% of the posts it had pre-pandemic. Stop being a baby.
Anus
Jackson is posting the view from the racist wing and rides on the kind of inferior “thinking” that is near and dear to that “white supremacist” David Duke.
Flying with your white robes, Jackson?
Be an adult, wear your mask and mind your own business. You will get to where you’re going.
Based on what we see on the video, this passenger was treated inappropriately. The United personnel need to explain themselves to the satisfaction of the passenger who, no matter what, was lied to, at a minimum, and that alone is unacceptable. United treated this individual in an inexcusable manner. There need to be repercussions. God Bless this guy and good for him to be able to document what happened. United seems to have learned nothing from its previous failings. And we wonder why some people believe there is “systemic racism” in the US. Fly the friendly skies, indeed…
Imagine if, “Excuse me, but please step off of the plane,” was said to the guy filming the Dr. Dao episode.