NEW YORK, NY—New York native Matthew Lasner, an author, and professor at Hunter College, was dismissed from a JetBlue flight at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport on Thursday, December 22, after his husband reportedly “expressed displeasure” about flying with Ivanka Trump and her family.
According to reports, Mrs.Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, their three children and a few other relatives were reportedly headed to Hawaii for a holiday vacation at the time of the altercation.
Lasner, who was flying coach, took to Twitter to share news of the incident. His account has since been deleted.
“Ivanka and Jared on our flight. My husband expressed displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane,” tweeted Lasner.
He also tweeted, “Ivanka and Jared at JFK T5, flying commercial. My husband chasing them down to harass them. #banalityofevil.”
TMZ reported that the man allegedly approached Trump and began yelling, “Your father is ruining the country!” According to reports, he then questioned why she and her family were flying public rather than private. When escorted off the plane, the man reportedly shouted, “You’re kicking me off for expressing my opinion?”
Marc Scheff, the passenger seated in front of Trump and her family, described the incident to CNN reporter Poppy Harlow.
He mentioned that the man was “shaking and visibly agitated,” and that, in addition to shouting that her father is “ruining the country,” he told Trump that she was “ruining our flight.”
Scheff mentioned that Trump attempted to ignore the man and distract her children, before speaking with a flight attendant, saying, “I don’t want to make this a thing.”
JetBlue officials released a statement regarding the incident:
“The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. If the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during flight. In this instance, our team worked to re-accommodate the party on the next available flight.”
