A Florida resident who was banned for life from an airline after defying a federal mask mandate by wearing lacy undergarments on his face, says he’s basically the same as civil rights icon Rosa Parks, a Black woman who famously refused to move from her seat for a white passenger on a bus in 1955.
“I think the best way to illustrate absurdity is with absurdity,” said Adam Jenne to NBC2 after he was booted off his United flight last Wednesday from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C. “Every single flight has been met with different reactions from the flight crew.”
A video of the incident has since gone viral. In the short clip a flight attendant can be heard telling Jenne he’s “not in mask compliance.” “You’re going to have to come off the airplane. We’re not going to let you travel,” he said.
Jenne, who claims he’s pulled this stunt many times before to varying degrees of success, told NBC2 that a few other passengers joined him and got off the plane in solidarity.
He also added that the act of wearing underwear on one’s face (while the omicron variant creates record spikes in COVID-19 cases across the country), is basically the same as being a Black woman forced to ride in the back of a bus.
“Everything else that has sparked change has started from everyday people, ” said Jenne. “Rosa Parks was nobody famous. She changed the course of history.”
Jenne added that he got a full refund and used the money to book a flight with Spirit the next day.
Following the incident, United Airlines released a statement praising the spokesperson for confronting Jenne before the plane took off.
“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,” the statement said.
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This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2021.