Man filmed crying after being kicked off flight ‘for refusing to wear a mask’

A video of a man seen crying after being kicked off a US flight and “called a terrorist” has gone viral this week. The clip, which has been viewed more than 15 million times, is one of a number of videos of angry Trump supporters removed from flights circulating on social media.

In the short clip, which was initially posted to TikTok, the man is seen shouting: "This is what they do to us, they kicked me off a flight, they call me a f***ing terrorist and they want to rule my life."

As shocked passengers looked on, a woman was seen attempting to calm the man down. "Sir, please calm down,” she said, “I was kicked off Delta earlier."

The video was originally posted by TikToker “Heartlessbeech” and now has more than 60k likes on the platform. In the caption she writes: ‘Homeboy had a full toddler level meltdown bc he was told to wear a mask.’ In a follow-up video, she explained that she wasn’t entirely sure exactly why he was removed from the plane, but it seemed like it was mask-related.

Following the shocking events in Washington DC last week, it was initially assumed that the man’s removal from the flight was the result of a suspected ‘NoFlyList’ — a method used by the FBI to prevent suspected terrorists from flying.

Tweeting the video, researcher and podcaster Ray Redacted wrote: "People who broke into the Capitol Wednesday are now learning they are on No-Fly lists pending the full investigation. They are not happy about this."

However, per CNN, this is not necessarily the case. It’s said that federal police are still working to identify rioters who stormed the capital. It’s not clear whether the man in this footage is a Trump supporter or attended the riots.

While the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) called for the flight ban due to “mob mentality behaviour”, it’s likely the people were removed for not complying with Covid-19 measures and not wearing a mask. According to CNN, Alaska Airlines had banned 14 passengers flying from DC to Seattle a day after the riot “because they refused to wear masks.’’

Per Newsweek, David Slotnick, Senior airline reporter at Business Insider, responded to a tweet which rubbished the no fly list claims.

“The caption on the original post says it’s mask related,” he tweeted.