Guy Kicked Off Southwest Airlines Flight For Refusing To Remove His "Broad Fucking City" T-Shirt
ST. LOUIS, MO. (KTVI) – A New York college student found himself stranded in St. Louis, Monday after being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight that wasn’t even supposed to land here. The conflict raises a classic first amendment debate of free speech, versus vulgar language. Daniel Podolsky was on a flight from Dallas to Chicago, and only set foot in Lambert Airport because of bad weather in the Windy City. But the college kid apparently forgot a couple of lessons from kindergarten about bad words, and playing well with others.
At issue: his tee shirt. The garment, promoting the Comedy Central show “Broad City,” says in bold letters, “Broad F—— City,” but the “F-word” is fully spelled out. It was one of hundreds handed out by the comedy channel at the South By Southwest festival Podolsky had just left. He says his jacket was hiding the shirt when he walked around for all to see, but when he got on the plane, it was tight quarters and he took the jacket off.
His flight made the unscheduled stop in St. Louis and he got off to use the restroom. That, he says, is when a Southwest gate agent noticed the shirt and said he would need to remove it. “It’s only when I got back on the plane when it was gonna take off, ya know, you have this much space, you’re gonna take your jacket off because it’s hot,” he explained. “I took my jacket off, so he sent someone to remove me from the flight.”
We asked him if he was given an opportunity to remedy the situation. “Did they give you any opportunity to put your jacket back on, to change the shirt, to put it inside out?” we asked. Podolsky’s response: “It just happened so fast. Within thirty seconds the flight was gone. I mean I would have gladly done so.” But the video of the confrontation on the plane that Podolsky provided FOX 2 tells a slightly different tale. Saying he “would have gladly done so,” is clearly not the case.
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You know who I have zero sympathy for? People who think it’s their right to fuck with the airline workers and make a stink when they travel. You know who I have less than zero sympathy for? Daniel Podolsky.
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“It just happened so fast. Within thirty seconds the flight was gone. I mean I would have gladly done so.”
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Really? You sure about that Daniel? Because I just watched a video where the Southwest flight attendant calmly gave you three different options to board the flight and you said No to all of them then cited your freedom of speech. Get the fuck out of here man. Yes, technically you have freedom of speech, but this is about being a decent human being on a packed airline when everyone is already miserable. These are the worst people. The people that complain and flip out when a flight is delayed because of bad weather in the Winter, or the people that get upset when the airline makes you check a bag because it’s too big even though that was explicitly explained when you checked in, or the people that get upset at the security checkpoint and say they shouldn’t be patted down. Fuck out of here, this isn’t a democracy, the airlines and TSA get to do whatever they want and you comply, those are the rules that any rational person understands. But more than that I just can’t stand people that don’t accept the fact that traveling and airports and airplanes suck. When I travel I put my head down, I shut the fuck up, and expect for everything to be delayed for hours on end. People like Daniel Podolsky who think it’s their right to travel anyway they want and have everything be perfect are the absolute worst part of this world. I honestly hope he’s stuck in St. Louis for the rest of his life, that would be an adequate punishment. What a shithead.