Innocent airplane passengers have been known to endure a lot of mentally scarring situations — like the lady who lived out a social anxiety nightmare when she booked the wrong seat or everyone on that plane that couldn’t take off because someone had a bad bathroom accident. Here’s another that’s a legitimate challenger for the top spot, though: a Donald Trump t-shirt that was so crude it got someone thrown off his plane.
As shared on the r/delta subreddit, a passenger on a Delta Airlines flight was escorted off the plane solely because of his fairly obscene choice of shirt. “Yeah, I’m getting kicked off because of my shirt,” the man says in the video, once he sees someone recording the incident. “And this is her — record, report it,” he adds, indicating the flight attendant ushering him out the cabin. “Stupid ass, Wendy. Thanks, Wendy.”
So what’s the deal with this scandalous shirt? The person filming had a clear view of it so the video captures the gag-worthy garment in all its glory. The tee’s decal sports a monochrome image of Trump standing in front of the American flag, wearing red and blue stars and stripes-patterned shades, with both of his middle fingers up. That rude gesture is not the worst thing about the shirt, however. “Hawk Tuah,” it reads, referencing the infamous TikTok celebrity. “Spit on that thang.”
In their caption, Reddit user SKBeachGirl offers up some further context. The Redditor explained that this occurred at Sarasota Airport in Florida. Before boarding, they spotted the man getting approached by a member of staff who informed him that a woman had complained about his shirt, requesting that he change it or he would not be allowed on the flight. He complied at first, turning the tee inside out, but by the time everyone had boarded and the plane was ready to go, he had managed to flip it back. “IDK but I’ve seen way worse….girl half naked boarded and left alone,” the Reddit concluded.
While you might expect Trump supporters to decry Delta for persecuting their people or something, the vast majority of Redditors are in agreement that it’s not the Trump aspect of the shirt that’s the problem. “Probably got kicked off bc of the middle fingers being displayed in the tshirt. I see lots of maga shirts when I fly,” one opined, while another concurred: “This, maga shirts (as distasteful as they are to me) are not a problem. The obscene gesture is what did it.”
One intelligent response noted that, as small as this infraction may be, the fact that the man directly disobeyed a flight attendant makes him a potentially much bigger problem. “More likely, he was kicked off because he was specifically disobeying a ruling by a flight attendant,” this user pointed out. “He was allowed to stay on when his shirt was inside out but by turning it back before take off, he thought he was being slick. Naturally the staff assumed that if he’s going to disregard them, he’ll do it again, and thus poses a minor flight risk.”
Others, meanwhile, are just plain mystified by this tee’s lore: “I’d like to add, the combination of huak Tua and trump make no sense. Just stupid memes mixing with current events.” Someone else is convinced the makers of the shirt didn’t think it through properly: “Lmfaooo I’m also confused because is Trump supposed to be spitting on it??” All in all, the guy got what he was asking for: “Wore a provocative shirt to provoke a reaction. It worked.”
Delta Airlines does have a clear dress code for its passengers. “Overall appearance should be well-groomed, neat, clean, safe and respectful, from head to toe,” read the official guidelines. “Clothing should be respectful of fellow passengers.” It’s fair to say this person’s choice of apparel wasn’t respectful to the other people on the plane. In fact, given how it’s ambiguous who is supposed to be doing what, it’s not even respectful to Donald Trump.