Delta Air Lines kicked a man off a flight to Atlanta after he refused to remove a vulgar Donald Trump t-shirt.
Delta Removes Man For Vulgar Trump T-Shirt On Florida Flight
A man showed up to board his Delta flight (from Sarasota, Florida to Atlanta according to VFTW) with a Donald Trump t-shirt. The problem wasn’t Trump, but that the caricature of Trump had his two middle fingers extended. The caption at the bottom read, “Hawk Tuah Spit On That Thang.”
“Hawk Tuah Spit On That Thang” ???
Which I did have to google…and is apparently a reference to…well, you can read between the lines:
https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.pflaumisan/video/7384904457655487777
He was told to change his shirt or flip it inside out, which he did…and boarded the flight.
But once onboard, he flipped his t-shirt back, exposing the vulgar depiction of Trump.
A member of Delta ground staff named Wendy came onboard to remove him. He complied and left the flight, but not before cursing at Wendy in front of the camera.
My response is simple: good for Wendy. Political messages are one thing. Vulgar images, including the middle finger, cross the line. Certain norms thankfully still exist in civilized society that should not be crossed. No vulgarity, no profanity, no nudity…not onboard a closed metal tube with 100+ passengers around you.
There is a fine line between political speech and vulgarity, but middle fingers or F-bombs have no place on an airplane.
> Read More: Thank You American Airlines For Forcing Man To Remove Obscene Shirt!
> Read More: Offensive T-Shirts And The Line Of Decency Onboard Airplanes
And finally, may I just lament that so many idiots don’t understand the First Amendment (it concerns government regulation of speech, not private companies). We need to re-focus on teaching civics in this country…
https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1830098924075450524
“Vulgar Donald Trump Shirt”
Isn’t that redundant? Everything about the fascist is vulgar (at best).
Many presentations are vulgar : beards , Brandon sniffing , cackling camel-a cooking a stew , fishing or hunting , politicians or judges pretending to be good , everything Hamas ; all vulgar .
What is a camel-a?
He ought not to be allowed into the airport terminal . There ought to be entry guards and allowable dress codes .
That might actually be a first amendment violation, if access is denied to a public space based on speech.
The shirt was not too vulgar, particularly if one had to look up the meaning. The 3rd finger is…so what. A low cut dress is more revealing than two 3rd fingers.
I once took a souvenir picket for a union strike but was required to cover it up on the plane.
The problem was not the obscure BJ reference, but the middle fingers. Yes, Derek, that is vulgar.
I did write that it was vulgar but, to me, not that vulgar. Swearing is so common now even though it’s not good.
Men wearing suits and women wearing dresses used to be the way people flew on planes. Later, it was no suits but still smartly dressed.
Yeah, I don’t need to see a white trash loser’s idiotic t-shirt on a flight.
Matthew, what did Justice Harlan say about vulgarity? It seems you are stating your opinion as if it is a fact.
Oh Jerry, Jerry.
I would have voted with Harlan in the Cohen case. But let’s not forget that was a case about the government banning speech, not a private corporation.
I find the middle finger manifestly vulgar and would ban such displays, including shirts, on utilitarian grounds…in confined metal tubes such as airplanes. I may be a woefully outdated Millennial, but I don’t think we’ve all just embraced the bird and I think it the sort of language that adds nothing of value to the discussion, much like so many comments on this blog (not yours).
Trump and vulgar in the same sentence? Who would ever have imagined that happening!
Matthew I’d give you a Hawk Tuah you’d never forget.
Grow up.
LOL Chi Hsuan join the line
Imagine if your most remembered image will be doing the aisle walk of shame, wearing the spit on it t shirt with two bird flips. At least try to dress in a way the future won’t make you look regrettable.
Contrary to the guy who thinks throwing the guy off the flight is a violation of the First Amendment, private companies like Delta can censor whatever they want. It’s the government that can’t abridge the right of free speech. I wonder what that guy thinks about Florida banning certain books in schools.
You had to Google that? Do you live under a rock? How are you a journalist? Do you not have any social media? Is the internet made of a series of pipes and tubes?
Sorry, but I’m an old Millennial.
“And finally, may I just lament that so many idiots don’t understand the First Amendment (it concerns government regulation of speech, not private companies). We need to re-focus on teaching civics in this country…”
Civics, government (and US History) are taught in all public schools in the US, typically in high school. Whether or not any of it sticks, obvi. And then there are those who have an agenda to push, which may not be factual or accurate. I would propose maybe some sort of fact check or ability to filter out bogus takes and claims… LOL
Should have waited until the flight reached cruising altitude before doing his Superman impersonation.
You gotta admit, it would have been hilarious if he had that shirt with a Palestinian flag pin.
I wish this would have told me it was an opionion piece in the beginning. Why would a jounalist add their response? Vulgarity is subjective, and the middle finger is a construct. Not sure why you’re happy with Wendy, she just followed the dress code policy and did her job.
Vulgarity may be subjective in a macro sense, but not in a cultural sense.
Do you support this nasty shirt? Do you support those who may choose to wear nothing at all on a plane?
There’s a philosophy I’ve developed on political speech which is: Less is more (or at least lower volume is more).
If someone is yelling or engaging in hyperbole, the recipient (particularly an unwilling one) usually uses that as an excuse to zone them out or dismiss them. There’s even this scene in High Anxiety where Mel Brooks utilizes psychology to be noisy and argumentative with Madelain Kahn to cause people to ignore them in public.
Want to “trigger someone” without getting into trouble? Wear a red hat or T-shirt with MAGA on it. It’s not offensive and even the message itself is innocuous (Bill Clinton said it in 1991) It’s also called a “Dog Whistle”. You can make noise without anyone but the recipients hearing it.
All profanity and offensiveness accomplishes constructively, so to speak, is to show one’s disdain with those around them. I think this is the lowest form of free speech and an example of the need for a civil society for our precious civil rights to exist. When the lowest common denominator becomes the default way people express their rights, that’s as much a threat to rights itself as tyranny because it creates the environment of such. In other words, bad apples ruin it for everyone.
Anything related to Donald Trump needed to be removed from America social and political scenes. Period . Including Donald Trump himself….
Some day, some MAGAite will learn exactly what the First Amendment is and how it works.