Pro Basketball Players Kicked Off Flight for Allegedly Stealing 1st-Class Blankets That Were Given to Them

Add flying and receiving kindness to the ever growing list of things that black people can’t do. On Christmas Eve, two NBA G League players were kicked off their plane after a flight attendant accused them of stealing first-class blankets that weren’t allowed to be on their coach bodies.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view

AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass on Wealth, Politics & Power

view video

AI Is the New Civil Rights Frontier: Loren Douglass on Wealth, Politics & Power

According to the New York Post, Memphis Hustle guard Marquis Teague and forward Trahson Burrell were boarding a flight bound for Sioux Falls, S.D., Sunday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport when two first-class passengers gifted them their first-class blankets.

But a black attendant for the flight, which was operated by Envoy Air, accused the players of stealing the blankets because how dare two coach passengers be in possession of two first-class blankets? The flight attendant not only accused the players of theft but also ordered them off the plane.

On. Christmas. Eve.

I guess the players couldn’t have returned the blankets, or I guess the passengers who gave them blankets couldn’t have cleared it all up. Nope, the only solution that was suitable in this situation was a blanket accusal and rush to judgment, and the players had to get off the plane.

“It’s 2017 and a Flight attendant for @AmericanAir sees 2 young black athletes with blankets from first class,” Hustle assistant coach Darnell Lazare‏ said on Twitter, the Post reports. “His 1st comment is ‘did you steal them’ how about you teach people to get the facts first before jumping to conclusions. 🤔#beingblackinamerican”

An airline manager reportedly apologized to the players, who were given a first-class flight to their destination. That doesn’t make it better. Unless the players were given two first-class tickets on the Great Space Coaster while being accompanied by the most interesting man in the world who just happened to have two satchels full of cash and a call-up to a respectable team headed for the NBA playoffs, then nothing makes this right.

Also, fuck this airline.

Read more at the New York Post.