A man who was removed from a JetBlue flight in March, 2022, for wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” mask filed a federal suit against the airline on Friday.
Ryan J. Salo told the Daily Caller that he was removed from a JetBlue flight from Fort Lauderdale to Cleveland in March, 2022. “As my political free speech allows me to do, I wear a ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ mask, and I wear it any time I’m required to because I am a law-abiding citizen,” he stated at the time. “I wore the mask on my flight from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale without any issues.”
Most of his fellow passengers were laughing and high-fiving Salo over his mask, he stated at the time. After he was asked to remove the mask and put on a paper one, which he did, a flight attendant requested his removal, according to his report at the time.
Salo filed a federal complaint against the JetBlue Airways Corporation and its employees on Friday, claiming it came in response to “being unconstitutionally silenced, seized, and abandoned in Florida for wearing a political speech mask,” according to a post from the McGown Markling law firm.
A man was reportedly kicked off a Jetblue flight for wearing a ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ mask. He changed his mask after they asked him to then still kicked him off. @JetBlue https://t.co/uhxt0XG59S
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 8, 2022
“The biggest thing that bothers me is that not one single person on that plane stood up to my defense,” Salo told the Daily Caller in an exclusive comment on Monday. “I hope we get to a point where we see people getting picked out for a belief that we won’t just sit down and let it happen.”
He further noted that the steward who decided to remove Salo from the flight “should be sent to sensitivity training. “These organizations send Conservatives to sensitivity training all the time, so why not send him?” (RELATED: Twitter Censors Tucker)
The suit argues that JetBlue has refused to take any responsibility for violating Salo’s constitutional rights, leaving him with no other option than to file against the company. It comes after eight months of negotiations between the airline’s attorneys and Salo’s. He has since started a GoFundMe to help support the cost of the suit.
Representatives for JetBlue did not immediately return requests for comment.