Actress kicked off plane for defending passenger in 'slut shaming' incident
A Netflix star claims she was kicked off a plane for coming to the defence of another passenger who was allegedly “slut-shamed” by flight attendants over her outfit.
Melinna Bobadilla, known for her roles in Gentefied and Orange is the New Black, took to Twitter to tell her side of the story, saying the woman was “shamed and harassed” for wearing a tank top.
The actress said the Southwest Airlines flight attendant 'slut shamed' a young woman of colour for wearing a tank top she deemed offensive.
"[She] forced her to wear a company issued sweater, removed me for questioning their misogynistic policy, and exercised a double standard when enforcing an alleged offensive attire rule,” Ms Bobadilla wrote.
The woman at the centre of the incident, named Jacy, posted images of her outfit on her TikTok account, showing her wearing army green cargo pants and a pink corset-style singlet top on the plane.
“It was so embarrassing being slut shamed in front of everybody,” she says in one video, adding she was “about to cry”.
She said the weather outside was nudging 40 degrees and many people on the flight were wearing shorts and tank tops.
Hey friends just got pulled off a @SouthwestAir flight bc I advocated for a young woman being shamed and harassed by an employee for wearing a tank top that was deemed too revealing. He employee became defensive when I asked about what rules the young woman was breaking. 1/
— Melinna Bobadilla (@MelinnaTeatrina) July 11, 2022
“So some lady taps on my shoulder saying, ‘do you have a jacket or something? You need to cover up’.
“B***h, cover up what? My shoulders?” Jacy says, claiming she declined to wear the company T-shirt that was given to her.
She called Ms Bobadilla her “angel” and said she wanted to send her flowers for sticking up for her.
Followers of both women were outraged over the incident and quick to slam Southwest Airlines.
“They’re so wrong for this,” one woman wrote on TikTok.
“You better give this girl her money back,” wrote another.
“This is completely unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour. Do better,” a Twitter user wrote, tagging the airline.
Southwest Airlines respond with apology
Southwest Airlines saw Ms Bobadilla’s tweets and wrote back, telling the actress they were sorry she wasn’t able to “travel to her destination as planned” and requested more information.
The actress posted an update saying she had spent more than an hour on hold to the airline and still nothing was resolved.
She is also seeking legal advice.
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