Mo'nique Kicked Off Of United Airlines Flight

[DamianDunlap]

MO'NIQUE KICKED OFF OF UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT: Comedian says tiff with
>flight attendant rooted in racism.
>
>
>July 26, 2006
>
> *Before her turn as guest host on "The View" Monday, comedian
>Mo'Nique got into a little situation with a flight attendant during her
>United Airlines flight from Chicago to New York Sunday and ended up
>being thrown off the plane.
>
> According to the New York Daily News, the whole thing jumped off
>when her hair stylist stowed a hair dryer in a first-class overhead bin.
>Mo'Nique was seated in First Class, but the stylist was back in coach. A
>flight attendant stepped to the stylist to find out why coach items were
>being stowed in a first-class bin. The question, itself, had Mo'Nique a
>little heated, but she said she kept her cool.
>
> But, when a second flight attendant allegedly refused to believe
>that the hair dryer belonged to Mo'Nique, the "Phat Girlz" star said she
>went off.
>
> "Tell your people that the next time they have an attitude, they
>are being thrown off. ... Since 9/11, we don't play around," one flight
>attendant allegedly told Mo'Nique.
>
> "Are you equating my hair dryer with 9/11?" Mo'Nique said she
>retorted.
>
> The exchange escalated, and soon the flight attendants were
>demanding that Mo'Nique and her entourage leave the plane. They were
>escorted back to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, where, according to the star,
>a supervisor called local police to complain of a "disgruntled and
>belligerent passenger."
>
> "It was humiliating," Mo'Nique said of the experience, adding that
>one of the responding officers was black and eventually took her side.
>
> "You can't do this to her," the officer told the United
>supervisor, according to the actress, who was desperate to get to New
>York so she could tape her two episodes of "the View." Eventually, a
>sympathetic United agent at another counter booked them on the next
>flight.
>
> "I felt like I was being treated like an animal," said the
>38-year-old, whose full name is Mo'Nique Imes-Hicks. "This happens to
>black people all the time, and they don't have a voice. I have a voice."
>
>
> Mo'Nique is now using that voice to call for a boycott of United
>Airlines.
>
> "I won't [fly United again], and I hope no other black person will
>fly them either," she told the Daily News after venting her frustration
>on the nationally-syndicated "Steve Harvey Morning Show."
>
> Meanwhile, United spokeswoman Jean Medina told the Daily News:
>"We regret that Ms. Imes felt in any way that she was not treated with
>courtesy and respect. There was a confrontation involving a customer
>that caused the flight to be delayed. When a situation occurs on a
>flight that causes a delay, or disruption, we must act in the best
>interest of all of our customers."