American track and field star Sha'Carri Richardson claims she was kicked off of an American Airlines flight after an argument with a male flight attendant on Saturday.
Richardson posted on Instagram a clip of the interaction and shared in the video that she was on "vacation time" when the flight attendant began walking into Richardson’s camera view. In the video, the flight attendant tells Richardson she can’t record and she responds “You’re harassing me at this point so I think you should stop, I think you should stop.”
Richardson was told, “The captain wants you off the plane,” when the disagreement broke over the track star using her phone.
“Prior to the video this gentleman asked me to get off a cell phone call, [and] I did.” She continued, “I stated to him I didn’t like the tone he used with me. Following that while standing in front of me doing the safety protocols he continued to lean over to look at my phone. He asked to see that my phones were in airplane mode at this point. He demanded that [I] show him. Which I did in front of him.”
An airline spokesperson said the captain “elected to return to the gate and ask her to get off the plane.”
In the caption contemplating legal action, Richardson claimed that bystanders rallied behind the flight attendant.
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"In the beginning of the video you can hear a Caucasian male state that he doesn’t give a f that a male flight attendant is intimidating a woman," Richardson wrote in her caption. " ... this flight attendant has the applause when I exited the plane."
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She also said that the flight's captain did not do anything to help the situation
American Airlines said they “re-accommodated” Richardson on a later flight, adding a member of their team “has reached out to learn more.”
A representative for Richardson told NBC News she had “nothing to add at this time.”
Richardson, who quickly became famous after qualifying for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, was suspended for one month after testing positive for THC, according to the United States Anti-Doping Agency. While the suspension would have benched Richardson for at least part of the Tokyo Olympics, the sprinter was removed from the roster of the U.S. relay team.
After making her return to the field following her suspension, Richardson defeated Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica during the 100 meters at a World Athletics Continental Tour silver meet in Lucerne, Switzerland last August.
The sprinter won in 11.29 seconds over Thompson-Herah (11.30).
