Comedian Marlon Wayans claimed he was thrown off a United Airlines flight just hours before he was supposed to perform on stage due to a disagreement with a gate agent about checking a bag. He went to social media to air his grievances.
On Instagram, Wayans has around six million followers about not being able to board the flight from Denver to Kansas City. He wrote:
“Maaaaaan the bullsh*t I’m experiencing at @united is unprecedented BULLSH*T. People taking advantage of their ‘power.’ Bro claimed i had too many bags so i complied and consolidated them he was like ‘oh now you have to check that bag’. Bye. I’m in seat 2 A come holla. Most agents are always love but every now and then you come across BAD PEOPLE. This was one of them. @united this type of employee should never work at your company.”
Wayans continued: “I’m going to miss my shows tonight because of a gate agent at United Airlines. Just sometimes you come across a d*ck. United, pick better people to work for you.” Wayans ultimately received a ticket from American Airlines to get to his destination, but the drama didn’t stop there.
TMZ reported that a witness to the incident said Wayans was mad after being told to check his back in during boarding and that the comedian slammed his ticket on the counter before boarding the plane. The witness also claimed the gate agent tried to stop Wayans from getting on, but he couldn’t so security was called.
Police arrived 30 minutes after Wayans was escorted off the plane. A spokesperson for the Denver Police Department stated that the White Chicks star was given a citation for disturbing the peace following the incident. Wayans confirmed this via Instagram as well.
“Yes, a ticket… that’s all they could give me. Dude tried to lie and say i assaulted him. The video clearly shows i never touched him. He was desperate to try to have some authority,” he wrote. “I’ve flown over 15,000,000 miles in my lifetime and I rarely have had problems. Anyone knows who knows me knows I’m a mild mannered dude. This agent was clearly picking on me.”
Wayans also pointed out that Black people are subjected to both racism and classism and what happened was simply a result of that.