Desmond Howard, one of ESPN’s more popular co-hosts, filmed himself after a man tried to pull the “White privilege” card to have him removed from a plane for ridiculous reasons.
Howard, who co-hosts “College Gameday” during the football season, was trying to board an American Airline plane when the White man seated next to him tried to have the flight attendant supervisor eject him from the plane on some type of Karen-adjacent vibe.
At first, the unidentified man told the supervisor that Howard warranted removal because he is sick, but Howard informed her that he was not ill and that he was only clearing his throat.
Next, the man said that his ticket indicated that he had priority over Howard and, therefore had the authority to have Howard removed from the plane. But that asinine reasoning proved futile as well.
Howard, a former star wide receiver who won both the Heisman Trophy at the University of Michigan and a Super Bowl MVP with the Green Bay Packers, waited until the flight had ascended well above the clouds before breaking out in a soliloquy mocking his tormented fellow passenger.
Talking on his cell phone video, Howard exposed the White man for his trifling and truculent behavior:
An "Entitled" passenger tried to get me removed from @americanair flight because I was "sick". To justify is request he told the supervisor "I am sure my status is higher than his so you should remove him."😳
After I took this video he asked the FA if he could switch seats.😆 pic.twitter.com/4c6nM12tq1— Desmond Howard (@DesmondHoward) March 12, 2023
Howard managed to flip the script on the disrespect and ended up getting a kick out of the sour-puss’ petulance. Here is his breakdown of the pre-flight drama:
“So I’m on this American Airlines flight, and before we took off, this supervisor comes up and speaks to the guy sitting next to me,” Howard recalled. “She says ‘You wanted to talk to me?’ He says ‘Yeah, I think you should remove this gentleman from the plane, because he’s sick,’ talking about me. And I said ‘Oh, I’m sorry, are you a doctor?’ He says ‘Well, you’ve been coughing all over the place.’ This is before we even took off, right? So I said ‘Well, you can leave the plane and take another flight, because I’m not leaving. All I was doing was clearing my throat.’
“So Carol, the supervisor, she’s looking, and guess what card he tried to play? He said ‘I’m sure if you checked our status, my status is higher than his.’ So I said to Carol, ‘Yeah, check our seats and let me know whose status is the highest.’ And as you can see, I’m still sitting on this plane. As a matter of fact, we’re in the air right now. The caucasity of him,” Howard said as he breaks out in a wide grin while panning over to the aggrieved White man.
“Unbelievable. All right, everybody, you guys have a happy Sunday. Peace,” Howard concluded.
Later, someone high up on American Airlines informed Howard that he is always welcome on their planes.
We're always happy to have you on board with us!
— americanair (@AmericanAir) March 12, 2023
