DJ Soda from South Korea claims she was ‘harassed’ and ‘humiliated’ after she was asked to deplane from a flight from JFK in New York to Los Angeles after crewmembers indicated that her pants were considered offensive due to saying ‘F*CK YOU” in a pattern covering the entire pants.
Eventually she did turn her pants inside-out and was allowed to travel on to Los Angeles. Soda posted on Instagram and Twitter that:
“As I was escorted off the plane, they claimed that my sweatpants were ‘inappropriate’ and ‘offensive’ telling me that I need to take the next flight.
I have never had an issue with wearing this pair of pants before in my many months of touring in North America and they did not have any problem with me wearing it at the time of check-in nor when I sat down at my seat.
I pleaded to stay on the flight but was ignored by the staff and the flight attendants. I even offered to get changed but the request was denied. What happened next was horrendous. With my broken fingers, I…ended up taking off my pants in front of the whole crew and standing half-naked while they still refused to board me on the flight. They even sarcastically commented that I could have taken off my pants earlier.”
American Airlines issued this statement in response:
During the boarding process for American Airlines Flight 306 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), our team members informed Ms. So-hee of our policies and provided her the opportunity to change out of clothing displaying explicit language.
The customer complied with requests and was allowed to continue travel, as planned, to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
I GOT KICKED OFF FROM @AmericanAir flight and they harassed me to take off my sponsored @RIPNDIP 'F**K YOU' sweatpants in front of people to board again. pic.twitter.com/YU0TrhZjry
— djsoda (@dj_soda_) April 26, 2022
There is no footage available confirming she did indeed change in the terminal. All airlines have conditions of carriage which note that all passengers must ‘dress appropriately’ even if she had no issues before on flights wearing them.
