Man Kicked Off Southwest Flight Over Lewd T-Shirt
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
DALLAS, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - A man flying from Dallas to Chicago on Southwest Airlines was denied reboarding in St. Louis allegedly over vulgar language on his t-shirt.
According to a local Fox affiliate in St. Louis, Daniel Podolsky was flying home after spending the week at Austin's South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. Due to weather issues - the flight was forced to stop in St. Louis and Podolsky, along with many other passengers, exited the aircraft.
Podolski was dressed in a dark souvenir t-shirt with bold white lettering that he was given at the festival promoting the Comedy Central sketch-comedy show 'Broad City', the shirt read BROAD F****** CITY.
When Podolsky went to get back on the plane, the gate attendant allegedly stopped him over the language displayed on the t-shirt he was wearing. Podolsky cited his 'freedom of speech', but was told it would be against Southwest's rules by wearing an offensive shirt, so he couldn't get back on the aircraft.
Podolsky refused to comply with the request and was ultimately left stranded in St. Louis as the flight left for Chicago.
"It's only when I got back on the plane when it was gonna take off, ya know, you have this much space, you're gonna take your jacket off because it's hot," he explained to Fox 2 . "I took my jacket off, so he sent someone to remove me from the flight."
Podolsky's own cell phone video shows him being asked by a Southwest employee to change the shirt, or even to turn it inside-out, and lastly to do 'anything' not to display the language on the shirt. Each time he answers 'nope'.
"In the moment I was caught off-guard by this suddenly being an issue just as we were about to take off, and I lost my cool a little bit." Podolsky told 1080 KRLD. "It saddens me to know that people can't be tolerant of self expression."
He was later allowed to board a flight to New York, his ultimate destination, after changing his shirt.
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
