A Trump supporter was kicked-off of a plane after he refused to wear a mask. A video of the incident shows the passengers in the American Airlines aircraft applauding as the unruly co-passenger was booted off the plane.
Brandon Straka, who is the founder of the WalkAway movement and describes himself as a "former liberal" was removed from an American Airlines flight from LaGuardia to Dallas-Fort Worth, after refusing to follow their guidelines, American Airlines confirmed in a statement.
Straka launched the "#WalkAway Campaign" in 2018 to "encourage and support those on the Left to walk away from the divisive tenets endorsed and mandated by the Democratic Party of today."
Straka's "#WalkAway Campaign" on its online store is selling face masks for $20.
American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines earlier this week had announced that it was not only compulsory to wear masks but the passengers breaking rules may be banned from flying with them in the future. The measures were introduced after complaints that their mask policies were not being enforced, ABC News had reported.
In an official statement, American Airlines reiterated that it was compulsory to wear face masks.
"Some passengers are exempt from the face covering requirement, such as young children and those with a disability or medical reason for why they cannot wear a face covering. The policy also does not apply while eating or drinking," American Airlines clarified.
Straka took to Twitter on Wednesday: "I was just removed from my flight for not wearing a mask. 1st time this has happened. Not a federal law.
"@AmericanAir staff standing over me telling me it's THE LAW. So much for 'please respect those who can not wear a mask'. When I pointed out this wasn't a law I was removed."
Straka added: "Entire episode is filmed. AFTER removing me flight manager says- they made a mistake. They had no right to ask you that."
After being booted-off the plane as passengers cheered, Straka took to Twitter where he posted a video on periscope detailing the incident. He said that the airlines had apologized to him as the staff did not ask if he had any condition.
Straka added: "This is insane, absolutely insane. We don't even have a choice anymore. It's not the law, as you know, it's not the law."
Astead W Herndon, a journalist at the New York Times who was also on the same plane literally next to Straka said on Twitter: "Absolutely not how the interaction went. Not only did this guy hold up the entire flight he is fabricating how the interaction went with the flight attendants for some twitter likes."
"He said you never even asked me if I had a condition that makes me incapable of or wearing a mask. The flight attendant was like well do you? He said yes. She asked if he had paperwork and he said no."
Herndon also had tweeted a video of the incident and had said: "He just got off the plane and ppl applauded lmaooo."
