Kevin Smith Kicked Off Southwest Flight for Being Too Fat

By PopEater Staff Posted Feb 14th 2010 09:22AM

Kevin Smith is not a happy Southwest customer.

The director was thrown off a flight from Oakland to Burbank, after being deemed too fat to fly. He would later end up on another Southwest flight and now he's expressing his anger on Twitter.

"Dear @SouthwestAir - I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?" her began.

"Dear @SouthwestAir, I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn't give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a "safety risk". Again: I'm way fat... But I'm not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I'm seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who'd already I.d.ed me as 'Silent Bob,'" Smith continued in a succession of several tweets.

Smith even posted a photo of himself on the plane.

Then he got a little angrier. "So, @SouthwestAir, go f--- yourself. I broke no regulation, offered no "safety risk" (what, was I gonna roll on a fellow passenger?). I was wrongly ejected from the flight (even Suzanne eventually agreed). And f--- your apologetic $100 voucher, @SouthwestAir. Thank God I don't embarrass easily (bless you, JERSEY GIRL training). But I don't sulk off either: so everyday, some new f----you Tweets for @SouthwestAir."

Southwest issued a response on Twitter. "I've read the tweets all night from @thatkevinsmith - He'll be getting a call at home from our Customer Relations VP tonight."

"@ThatKevinSmith Again, I'm very sorry for the experience you had tonight. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do," the Southwest twitterer added.

But Smith didn't stop. "The @SouthwestAir Diet. How it works: you're publicly shamed into a slimmer figure. Crying the weight right off has never been easier!"

And he wanted to let the airline know he had made it to his destination. "Hey @SouthwestAir! I've landed in Burbank. Don't worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised."

Tags: kevin smith, KevinSmith

Comments

(275)

Sunday 14 February

By gallya

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I'm sorry for Kevin. I had the exact same experience like him. That's why I doubt that they threw him off because he was fat but because the plane had problems with the weight. What I mean... On 30th Sept 09 I had to flew from NYC to Las Vegas. My flight was at 9a.m. with Virgin Airlines.Well, I got to JFK at 8:25 a.m. and I couldn't check in my luggage because "I was supposed to be there 45min before the flight"(you can see I was 10 min late).Nevermind,I should have been there earlier, that's my mistake.The lady at the desk was really nice, she told me she could put me on stand-by for the next flight to San Francisco,10:45 a.m., and from there to fly to Las Vegas, again on stand-by, and I could start my vacation just a little bit later that I'd planned to. So I checked in my luggage, waited two hours, I was given a seat on the plane and even got on that stupid plane. While I was chatting with the people sitting next to me, awaiting for the plane to take off ( it was already 10 min late), a flight attendant came to me and told me I should get off due to overweight problems with the plane!!!! I was 150 pounds altogether with my luggage!!!! And she took me off because I was on a stand-by. If I hadn't been on stand-by(if no one had been on stand-by), would they have taken me off????They were going to have the same problems, but nobody on stand-by to take off.
So Kevin, no more stand-by tickets,ok? :)

By dan

I think you hit the nail on the head.....but he's not a woman,a minority,ect ....so he claims they kicked him off cause he's fat..fact is he flew stand -by.he would be the first to leave if there was a need

Monday 15 February

By Dastard44

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I'm on the road often, about 30 weeks a year and most of that travel is flying. I weigh 140lbs and I've volunteered to leave flights on several occasions because they were overweight. If my 140lbs (plus whatever my baggage is) makes a difference the 200+lbs of Kevin Smith definitely could make a difference. So he shouldn't get so worked up about it and if he really feels so self conscious about his weight he can more than afford to hire a personal trainer.

By theo

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Airlines do not remove passengers because of aircraft weight problems. They remove cargo, mail and if necessary, luggage.

By bobby

in all fairness, they should have notified him long before he got seated, also, alot of these people who are obese DO, have a medical condition(thyroid gland malfunction) that they really have no control over, but out of respect, they should have notified him and others as well, before they even got on the plane to avoid any embaresment, PS, ALL AIRLINES SUCKS THEY HAVE NO RESPECT FOR ANYONE!!!,, ILL TAKE A TRAIN

By valeskas

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Richard, do you feel offended, guess what, so do people who have to sit next to a fat person. If you have nothing better to do to get out your demons, call other people braindead, I am rather braindead, than a raving idiot like you

By monique

well not everyone's gonna be pin thin,so a suggestion to SW widen up your seats. It's no wonder he was considered too fat look at the picture the seats are so little

By tie

If you are too fat to fly they should have known that BEFORE he got on the plane. Waiting for him to be seated and then to humiliate him like that is uncalled for. I call for an immediate boycott of Southwest airlines. How dare they do that to Silent Bob!!!!!!

By jojo

Sonny, what is your definition of a "normal person"? Are you saying that someone who carries extra weight is not a "normal person"? Do you consider yourself a "normal person", because I am pretty sure most people don't!!

By wolf

90 percent of FAT People are FAT because they eat to much and dont exercise.If FAT SUMO WRESTLERS cant Handle the Truth go eat another Big Mac.Its Gross when a Person next to them is so Fat that there Layers of Blubber are Spilling on to the Person next to them that can fit in the Seat.Maybe People who dont eat themselves into 350 lbs slobs should start bringing Harpoons with them.Oh I am wrong all these Fat Slobs are just Big Boned,or have a Thyroid Problem.

By Jeff

LOL 47.5% of all statistics are made up.

By Bill S

I, like Kevin Smith, have badly lost the battle of the bulge. However, it's our responsibility. I think the Airline industry should provide some wider seats AND charge us extra for them. By the way, was Kevin in coach or first class?

By Bill

Both ha ha

By leon

Taking a DC10 cargo plane probably would have been better and cheaper.

For my fat azz I'm more thinking of a C-130 or even a B-52.lol

By kpargolf

For those who obviously have never flown Southwest, they have NO first class seats. You can pay extra for early boarding, but all seats are the same size. Kevin, love your movies, but next time fly the legacy carriers like United or American and upgrade to first class. I think you can afford it.

By Darryck Farmer

It's amazing how everyone is saying that his arm rest was down, So F'n What!!! It's not the arms that I am concerned with, it's his ass that is spreading over into the next seat under the arm rest.

By Mingo

Looks like the food police have struck again They now hate fat people What a nice group of left wingers it almost looks like they are out to control more of our lives Two years ago the food people were after people talking bad about fat people This airline would sell tickets to oprah and michael Moorer both fat but they are in the in crowd

By bill

I love flying SW because there are no fat people on the plane!!

By SalN

Actually Bill, I love to fly SW because people who can't FIT into 1 seat are required to buy 2 seats!

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