A passenger on an American Airlines flight was seen manhandled off the plane after yelling an antisemitic slur, video footage shows.
An unidentified man was caught on video yelling at fellow passengers before flight 2506 was scheduled to fly to Philadelphia from Tampa International Airport on Tuesday, according to the Daily Mail. The outburst was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) showing a male passenger confronting a male flight attendant.
While it is unclear how the argument began, the man could be seen getting in the flight attendant’s face before crawling back to his window seat. Someone off camera then questioned if the man had a bag he wanted to grab before he got off as fellow passengers could also be heard stating that he needed to get off. (RELATED: Police Arrest American Airlines Flight Attendant For Allegedly Trying To Film Minors In Airplane Bathroom, DOJ Says)
“Don’t attack me with two individuals against one,” the man stated.
The flight attendant could be seen walking away before quickly coming back, apparently telling the man that they were going to have to ask him to get off the flight. The man then appeared to become defensive towards the male flight attendant before calling him an antisemitic slur.
“I didn’t hit anyone, so you’re f*cking…yea, yea, yea. It’s okay, raising my voice to a female? I’ll see about it with you k*ke. You as a k*ke human. You’re teaming up. Do you see how most of the people are white here? Yeah, yeah so you were like ‘ahhhhh,'” the man stated.
NEW: American Airlines passenger gets put in a headlock and escorted off plane after yelling an anti-Semitic slur and blaming white people for his problems.
The man was accused of hitting someone and got angry, triggering him to launch anti-Semitic slurs.
“I’ll see about it… pic.twitter.com/WLHuqeOV91
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 21, 2024
Passengers nearby could be heard upset with the man’s behavior as he continued to blame everyone for not being able to get to his “home country.”
A second clip shows a man in a blue shirt with flight attendants by his side approach the male passenger, telling him that he needed to exit the plane. The male passenger could be heard questioning if he was going to get “chucked” by the guy, to which the male in the blue shirt stated no and warned him against becoming aggressive.
The male in the blue shirt could then be seen attempting to avoid a confrontation with the male passenger. However, the two ended up brawling after the male passenger continued to get in the man’s face. The male passenger was then placed in a headlock and dragged out by the male in the blue shirt as fellow passengers and a flight attendant aided nearby.
American Airlines issued a statement to the Daily Mail apologizing to customers for the “inconvenience” and thanking the team for their professionalism.
“Prior to departure of American Airlines flight 2506 with service from Tampa (TPA) to Philadelphia (PHL), law enforcement was requested to the aircraft due to a disturbance in the cabin involving a disruptive customer,” the statement reads. “We thank our team for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
The incident ended up causing a 30-minute delay to the flight’s schedule and it is unclear if any arrests were made after, according to the Daily Mail.