A woman who says she was ejected from a flight for wearing a crop top claims she was discriminated against for being a "fat, tattooed, mixed-race woman."
Ray Lin Howard, 33, from Fairbanks, Alaska, US, alleges she was escorted off an Alaska Airlines flight as well as interrogated about her outfit, which consisted of a crop top and shorts.
“I’m being harassed and now I’m being detained," she says in the video before adding: "I wore an outfit. That’s what happened.”
The video, which was shared on September 4th, racked up 1.3 million views and thousands of comments after being shared on TikTok.
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In it, Ray can be seen telling a police officer that she was initially wearing a sports bra before a flight attendant asked her to put on a shirt, which she did.
She said: “Then they approached me again, saying I can’t wear this, my stomach is showing, and it’s inappropriate.
Cops were called when Ray was approached for the third time and told the airline crew: “If you’re going to kick me off, kick me off.
"I’ve done what you asked me to do, I want you to leave me alone.”
The salon worker and recording artist can be heard asking the officer to let her go as she is on her way to perform at a show.
The officer acknowledges that she doesn’t seem to have committed any offences from what they can gather.
“I felt like I was being discriminated against for being a fat, tattooed, mixed-race woman, which in turn left me full of emotions like anger, disappointment, helplessness, humiliation, and confusion," Ray said.
In a follow-up video, Ray shows the outfit she wore on the flight.
She also shared an Instagram comment from a user who claims they were on the same flight and that “the only voice I heard raised at all was the flight attendant", though this has not been confirmed.
Ray added: "Throughout my life as a fat person, I’ve had to deal with fatphobia, especially growing up in the Midwest, but not to this degree."
Eventually, the singer was released and made it to her show.
She claims the airline later called her to apologise and offered a discount code for future purchases, which she called "hilarious" in another TikTok video.
On 31 July, traveller Sierra Steadman accused the same airline staff of allegedly slut-shaming her and threatened to kick her off the plane for also wearing a crop top and shorts.
She shared the incident in a video, which has been viewed 14.8 million times and racked up 3.4 million likes.
After Ray’s experience, Sierra made a TikTok video supporting the singer and said: “This should not be happening numerous amounts of times.
"It should not even be happening once.”
Alaska Airlines has been contacted for comment.
