A woman was reportedly removed from a United Airlines flight after trying to open the emergency door and making racist comments — and the first class cabin gave her a hilarious sendoff.
An Instagram video showed her final moments before she was escorted off by authorities after the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. As she walked by, a first class passenger played the theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm, causing everyone to burst out laughing.
Unphased, the woman was seen calmly checking her phone before appearing to turn around and say something as she exited the aircraft.
A passenger was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight after numerous racist remarks and attempts at opening the emergency door
American singer and songwriter Rob Thomas, @robthomas on Instagram, uploaded the video on September 23 and said the whole situation was “perfection” in his caption.
It read, “Our friend and @matchboxtwenty drummer @nealdaniels_ had a woman screaming racist things and try to open the door to the plane while in the air. After an emergency landing he hit her with the @curbyourlarrydavid theme.”
Any further details about the incident, such as flight date and route, have not been released.
The clip has gained more than 1,000 comments, a majority of which were poking fun at the situation
“An actual ‘everyone liked that’ moment caught on camera lmao,” said one user, which has amassed more than 6,000 likes.
Someone added, “As a flight attendant, I wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face if I’d been there. Well played.”
However, one retired cabin crew member urged viewers to treat the woman with sympathy.
“As a former flight attendant I could tell you how many different things sometimes horrific things happen on flights. Sometimes people are claustrophobic and cannot handle being in an tight tube.
“I know there are meds for this but in reality everyone is going through something and we do not always know the true story. Compassion comes to mind.”
Though not necessarily in direct response, others said there was no excuse for her behavior.
One user wrote, “The people blindly defending this woman are out of their gourds. She put everyone on that plane in danger. I have a lot of sympathy for the other passengers whose travel plans were disrupted.”
“Racism is not a mental illness!” another commented. “It’s an ideology that she CHOSE to act upon and endanger hundreds of lives! She gets compassion when she shows improvement as a human. Ty for coming to my ted talk. Do better people pls.”
A similar incident happened in 2019 when two women were racially abusing a group of Muslim travelers
A commercial airline, set to fly from Turkey to London, kicked out two unnamed women after they claimed three Muslim travelers were a danger to everyone on board, asking flight attendants to remove them.
As reported by The Mirror, the disruptive passengers were British and believed to be in their 30s. One of the women was said to have been suffering a panic attack while throwing racist accusations, and take off was delayed for 70 minutes.
The entire interaction was filmed by several people as authorities came to escort the two away.
A study showed an overwhelming number of complaints against aviation security for racially-motivated behavior
It seems that passengers aren’t the only ones to be guilty of discriminatory attacks.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) received 3,700 complaints regarding civil rights violations within a 2.5-year period. Upon review by the TSA Multicultural Branch, 52% (1,066) of the complaints found indications of potential discrimination and unprofessional conduct, involving race and other factors.
While TSA prohibits unlawful profiling — screenings for selective passengers based on race, ethnicity, etc. — the high number of discriminatory-based allegations caused an investigation.
People on social media laughed along to the impromptu theme song being played
