Olympic track and field superstar Sha’Carri Richardson got into an intense argument with an incompetent American Airlines flight attendant, and some of the flight’s passengers after the employee unjustifiably kicked her off the plane.
According to NBC News, Richardson explained in Instagram stories that she was on a phone call before recording the videos and told to get off the call. She complied and said that the male employee continued to lean over her to see if her phones were in airplane mode, yet his watchdog behavior wasn’t applied to other passengers.
Richardson posted two videos of the altercation to her Instagram. The first video showed the Black queen flaunting her beauty and explaining to the camera that she was going on vacation while wearing a mask amid flight attendance performing the safety instructions. The flight attendant, identified as “John,” walked up to Richardson, prompting her to turn the camera toward him. He quickly attempted to hide behind the curtain while telling Richardson that she couldn’t record him.
“I’m recording me, but you jumped in my video, so I caught you ’cause you jumped in my video,” she explained. “You’re harassing me at this point. So, I think you should stop.”
Passengers behind her began groaning in response. The track star began explaining to passengers she wasn’t the problem and that he was. The flight attendant told her she needed to stop recording, and Richardson refused, saying she was recording herself and that the video would show what he was doing.
A woman passenger interjected with a disrespectful and unsolicited comment.
“Lady, shut the f**k up,” the lady said.
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The following Instagram video comprised Richardson conversing with another passenger who agreed with her, telling the athlete that the airline was known to treat Black passengers poorly and that the employees let other people get away with anything.
“It was just the way he was talking to me,” she said. “I said I definitely would have listened to instructions, but the way he was talking to me, he was very unprofessional. And then his hands were all up in my face. He didn’t dismiss that part. So, if I’m getting off the plane, I feel like, as a flight attendant, they need a better flight attendant. He needs to get off too.”
A white male came in sarcastically, thanking her for causing him to miss his connecting flight. Richardson responded by pointing out that he was concerned with his connecting flight but not with an employee disrespecting a customer. The man said he didn’t “give a s**t.”
After being told that the captain wanted her off the plane, Richardson gathered her belongings, dismayed that many passengers were against her. Before departing the aircraft, she informed everyone that they should look for videos of the incident on social media and that they didn’t know who she was. Passengers began applauding while she walked towards the exit, and Richardson turned to the same male who ran his mouth, telling him he was fat. A man acknowledged that she was in the Olympics, and she put him in his place, letting him know she was a superstar and he was a “regular person.”
The Olympian took to the caption to ask if it was wrong of her to take legal action against the airline, followed by her testimony on what occurred.
“Tell me if I’ll be wrong to pursue legal actions against the airline @americanair. Not only did the man threaten me, but also an innocent bystander who simply just wanted a picture with me,” she wrote. “In the beginning of the video, you can hear a Caucasian male state that he doesn’t give af [a f**K] as a man that [a] male flight attendant is intimidating a woman.”
She continued, “Also, the captain not doing anything to help the situation, and this flight attendant [had] the applause when I exited the plane when I’m pretty serious. The disrespect I received would not have happened if I was one of them. One of them even stated good luck with your ban ( I see he took the time to do some research but not stand up for what’s right) soooo @americanair, this flight attendant’s name was John, and he refused to state his last name. However, [he] and the lady y’all see standing next to him looked me up, also if I see videos posted from this flight, watch.”
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It’s unclear where Richardson was headed, but a spokesperson for the airline told NBC News that she was placed on another flight.
