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A JetBlue passenger is fighting back after she said the airline told her the shorts she was wearing were too skimpy for the skies.
The passenger, a burlesque dancer who goes by the stage name Maggie McMuffin, claims she was about to board a Seattle-bound JetBlue flight in Boston on May 18 when she says a crew member told her she would have to change her clothes because her black and white shorts “may offend other families.”
McMuffin says she tried to reason with the crew member, suggesting some potential ways to cover up. “[I said], ‘I could tie a sweater around my waist,’” McMuffin told ABC’s Seattle affiliate, KOMO-TV. “‘I could get a blanket from you guys.’ And they said, ‘If you don’t change your clothes, you’re not going to be able to board this flight.’”
The dancer says she was eventually allowed to board the flight after buying new clothing at a kiosk.
Two weeks after the incident, JetBlue is standing by its decision, saying that after “the gate and onboard crew discussed the customer’s clothing,” they determined “other families” might have been offended by the outfit.
“We support our crew members’ discretion to make these difficult decisions, and we decided to reimburse the customer for the cost of the new shorts and offered a credit for future flight as a goodwill gesture,” the airline said in a statement released to ABC News Tuesday.
Source: RUNSTUDIO / Getty
McMuffin said no good deed can wipe away the shame she felt as a woman allegedly being told to cover up.
“I would say body shaming and slut shaming more than outright sexism, but it is really hard to remove those two things from misogyny,” she told KOMO-TV.
A picture of McMuffin wearing the shorts, posted on Facebook last week by a friend, has gone viral with comments both in favor and against the outfit.
“It’s shorts, people! She looks super cute. Everything is covered,” one user wrote.
“It’s completely inappropriate,” another countered.
source: WTOP.com
