HOME / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Passengers unite to support man kicked off United flight for wearing red thong as face mask

The Florida man when asked to get off the United Airlines airplane said, 'wearing women’s underwear on my face sounds perfect'

A middle-aged man, who was a passenger on an United Airlines flight, was reportedly asked to deboard before the airplane took off. The man from Florida was using a red thong as a face mask. Other passengers on the plane also deboarded in an attempt to show support towards him.

Video footage from the cell phone of one of the passenger's was posted online and it has since gone viral. It shows the passenger, Adam Jenne, who was wearing women's underwear on his face as a symbol of protest against the mask mandate, was eventually forced off the airplane. 

READ MORE

Florida mom left baby home alone to go to bar on Thanksgiving, charged with child neglect

Abdul Gene Malik: Florida man caught alligator with trash can, wins over the Internet

The incident occurred on Wednesday morning, December 15, on the United Airlines flight going from Fort Lauderdale to Washington. As seen in the video, the man's nose and mouth was covered with the red underwear when a staff member appeared. This flight attendant said to Adam Jenne, "You're going to have to come off the airplane. We're not going to let you travel." 

Adam questioned her by simply asking, "Why?" in another video by Fox4 that showed the verbal back and forth between the man and the flight staff. To explain their decision, the flight attendant explained by saying that, "You're not in mask compliance." Adam argued by saying that his 'mask' was well within compliance at least as per the TSA guidelines — a federal law until May 2021. That said, he also added that he does not understand or agree with the ruling that passengers are required to wear masks when travelling by planes. 

Adam added that he had pulled the stunt with the intent of showing that getting passengers to wear masks on planes is absurd. He explained that once the plane hit cruising altitudes, passengers definitely need to be unmasked as they would eat and drink during their journey.  In his words, "There's nothing more absurd than having to wear a mask until I get to cruising altitude so that I can order Tito's by the double and snack on pretzels, and illustrating that absurdity by wearing women’s underwear on my face sounds perfect."

Moments later a queue of other passengers on the plane were seen getting off the plane to show their support to Adam and his chosen form of absurdist protest. In the video, a passenger is heard saying, "I'm out of here, forget it. I'm out of here." Another man questioned, "Did he just get kicked off for wearing a mask." In his interview with Fox4, Jenne expressed how grateful he was for the fellow passengers that got off the plane in his support. 

The airline company said in a statement that," The customer clearly wasn't in compliance with the federal mask mandate and we appreciate that our team addressed the issue on the ground prior to takeoff, avoiding any potential disruptions in the air." Soon, Adam recieved an email from the airline stating he is banned due to his misconduct.