Women’s rights activist Tamika Mallory was booted off an American Airlines flight in Miami after a dispute over seating on Sunday.
Mallory was on a flight heading home to New York when the pilot followed her on board to chastise her over an argument she had with a gate agent.
Mallory, pictured far left, was in Miami to attend Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Revolt Music Conference. She also planned to attend the Rev. Al Sharpton’s daughter’s wedding, which she missed.
The 36-year-old single mother of a teenage son gained fame as the national co-chair for the Women’s March on Washington.
Mallory told the NY Daily News she argued with a gate agent over an aisle seat that she specifically chose.
But the gate agent issued her a middle seat and an argument ensued. Mallory said the agent’s attitude was “nasty” and “disrespectful.”
She said the pilot came over and took the gate agent’s side in the verbal confrontation.
The pilot told her the airline worker had “nothing to do” with her seat getting changed and that she was the one who behaved disrespectfully.
“Then he said to me, ‘Can you get on this flight? Are you going to be a problem on this flight?’ I said ‘No, I’m not. Actually, I’m fine. But I will write my complaint down,” Mallory said. “He looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to get yourself a one-way ticket off this plane.'”
Mallory said she thought she had the last word until she boarded the plane and settled into her middle seat.
That’s when the pilot approached, pointed at her and said, “Her, off.”
Mallory told the NY Daily News that the pilot was displaying his “white male aggression.”
“It definitely was white male aggression. I was singled out, I was disrespected, and he was trying to intimidate me. I was discriminated against,” she yelled.
American Airlines released a statement defending their pilot.
“Our team does not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” American Airlines spokesman Joshua Freed said. “We take these allegations seriously, and we are in the process of reaching out to our colleagues in Miami, as well as Ms. Mallory, to obtain additional information on what transpired during the boarding process.”
Photos by Lars Niki/Getty Images, Robin Marchant/Getty Images
