FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – It was one passenger’s way of protesting the federal mask mandate by wearing a red thong on his face.
The flight was leaving from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, but he didn’t take off. He was eventually kicked off the plane and is now banned from flying United Airlines.
Adam Jenne said he is not crazy and he has a good reason for masking up with a thong.
A United Airlines employee on the flight can be heard on cellphone video asking Jenne, “Are you wearing women’s underwear?”
“To which I replied, ‘It’s a mask doing its job,’ “ Jenne said.
Jenne said he has worn the bright red thong as a mask since the beginning of the pandemic.
“I think the best way to illustrate absurdity is with absurdity,” Jenne said.
He said on every flight, his mask has been met with different reactions from the flight crew.
But the United Airlines’ crew out of Fort Lauderdale airport wasn’t having it.
“I am banned from flying United. So much for the customer’s always right,” Jenne said.
He said that after he was kicked off the flight, what happened next really surprised him. After a passenger questioned why Jenne got removed, the man walked off and then others followed his lead.
“People started filing off the plane, maybe a dozen something like that,” Jenne said.
“It’s nonsense. It’s all nonsense. COVID doesn’t know that we’re at cruising altitude. It’s stupid. The whole thing is theater.”
United Airlines said Jenne wasn’t in compliance with the federal mask mandate and they gave him a refund.
Even as COVID cases start to climb again and hospitals fill up across the country, Jenne is comparing himself to civil rights icons.
“Everything else that has sparked change in this country has started from everyday people. Rosa Parks was nobody famous. She changed the course of history,” Jenne said.
He is trying to fly against this week, but will go on a different airline.
“Hopefully Spirit has a better sense of humor,” he said.
No word what happened when he boarded the Spirit Airlines flight wearing his signature thong mask, but we know one thing for sure — he will not be flying United Airlines again.