Olympic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson recently posted a series of videos on Instagram that she claims show her being harassed by an American Airlines flight attendant. When she was told it was time to turn off all electronic devices, Richardson began recording the incident and accused the flight attendant of “harassing” her when he stood nearby.
Richardson maintained her stance that she had done nothing wrong despite warnings from the captain and crew, even cursing at some of her fellow passengers who were becoming frustrated with her disruptions. Ultimately, many of those aboard the plane applauded during her removal from the flight.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Richardson explained what happened during the incident, claiming that not only was she harassed but also an innocent bystander who simply wanted to take a picture with her. She continued by alleging racism from the flight crew, insisting that if “I was one of them” referring to those on board—there would have been less disrespect toward her.
#shacarririchardson gets kicked off a flight when the flight attendant told her to get off a phone call and put her phone on airplane mode. She started recording a video, refused to stop, yelled at the attendant, abused passengers and the whole flight applauded as she left. pic.twitter.com/Og3OGRcXPw
— PillarsPullUpMEDIA (@PillarsPullup) January 22, 2023
Sha'Carri Richardson kicked off american airline flight pic.twitter.com/A1dfybTyJh
— Breaking Trends News (@btrendsnews) January 21, 2023
An American Airlines spokesperson released a statement acknowledging that they had reaccommodated Richardson for another flight and had reached out to learn more about what transpired. They did not specify any further details about the incident or whether any discipline or corrective action would be taken against their staff member involved.
While this may not be the first time that racial bias has been alleged against a major airline company, there was additional scrutiny placed upon this particular incident due to Richardson's prominent position as an Olympic sprinter and previous suspension from competition after testing positive for marijuana in 2021 which caused her Olympic trial results to be erased, leading up to being left off of Team USA in Track and Field events at Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. This wasn't about race, this was about acting ignorant.