American Airlines has fact-checked a right-wing influencer who claimed online that a passenger had been forced to change out of a pro-Charlie Kirk shirt during a flight by a crew member.
Milo Yiannopoulos, a British far-right commentator, wrote on X that the incident had occurred Wednesday during a flight from Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, to New York.
“HAPPENING NOW: A stewardess on @AmericanAir flight 1628 just demanded that this passenger change out of her Charlie Kirk “Freedom” shirt, claiming it is ‘offensive’ to the crew,” Yiannopoulos wrote, tagging U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in the post.
He also shared a screenshot, allegedly sent by the passenger, and a picture of a shirt that read “I stand with Charlie Kirk” on the back.
American Airlines was quick to respond to Yiannopoulos to fact check his claims.
“Wearing a Charlie Kirk Freedom t-shirt is not in violation of any of our policies,” the airline replied on X.
“Currently, we have not received any complaints from any individuals traveling on that flight, but are actively engaged and investigating.”
In the screenshot of the message, the alleged passenger said that a flight attendant had approached them once they had taken their seat and “asked if I was wearing a political shirt.”
“I said no, as it’s not political rather, honoring another human being who was murdered and prayer for our entire country, not one party or the other,” the alleged passenger wrote.
“She proceeded to tell me that I needed to either change or turn it inside out as it was offensive to her crew. I asked who was offended and she again repeated, ‘it’s offensive to my crew.’
“Let me clarify, when stating crew, Pilots were no where in sight upon boarding this flight, therefore she could have only been referring to the flight attendants.”
The Independent has reached out to American Airlines for further comment.
The alleged incident comes after a recent study from Quinnipiac University found that voters are concerned about freedom of speech and charged political rhetoric in the wake of events such as Kirk’s assassination on September 10.
The survey from mid-September found that 58 percent of respondents do not believe it is possible to “lower the temperature” on such stances, as opposed to 34 percent that did.
