TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man who was kicked off a United flight for wearing thong underwear as a mask tells WFLA he’s done it about 20 times before.
A video, which started making the rounds on social media this week, shows two flight attendants talking to Adam Jenne, who had been wearing the nether garments to cover his nose and mouth while he waited for his flight from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C. to take off.
One of the flight attendants can be heard telling Jenne he’s “not in mask compliance.”
“You’re going to have to come off the airplane. We’re not going to let you travel,” he said.
Another passenger, who had a mask hanging off his face, walked up to one of the flight attendants and asked if Jenne was being kicked off for wearing a mask. When the flight attendant asked the passenger to put his mask on, he said “I’m out of here.”
Jenne told WFTX several other passengers walked off the plane in protest.
“Thank you to them, because they saw something, an injustice, something that didn’t make sense, and they stood up,” he said.
Jenne later compared himself to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, who refused to move for a white passenger on a bus in 1955, according to NBC News.
Jenne said deputies with the Broward Sheriff’s Office arrived and escorted him off the plane before airport security was called.
Jenne told WFLA it’s not the first time he’s used the thong as a mask. He said he’s flown about 20 times with his thong mask, and was booted off a Delta flight earlier this year for wearing the drawers.
The TSA requires travelers to wear masks on commercial flights. On United’s website, it says that under federal law, passengers must wear masks that fully cover their nose and mouth without any vents or openings.
“The customer clearly wasn’t in compliance with the federal mask mandate and we appreciate that our team addressed the issue on the ground prior to takeoff, avoiding any potential disruptions on the air,” United said in a statement to NBC News.
Jenne did not disclose his vaccination status in the phone interview with WFLA. “It’s none of your damn business,” he said.