Korean-American rapper claims JetBlue booted him from flight for being 'Asian with tattoos'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jin Gates accused a JetBlue flight attendant of saying she didn't "feel safe" with him on the plane. (Jin Gates/Instagram)
A Korean-American rapper is claiming he was forced to cancel a show in Minnesota because JetBlue booted him from a flight for being “Asian with tattoos.”
Jin Gates, who boasts more than 262,000 followers on Instagram, took to the social media platform earlier this week to offer an explanation as to why he missed the concert, and to accuse the airline of wrongly removing him from the plane.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The incident reportedly took place last month, according to the International Business Times, though Gates only posted it to Instagram this week.
“Minnesota I’m sorry not my fault,” wrote Gates. "@JetBlue DONT LIKE ASIAN WITH TATTOOS… we got kicked off the plane because the flight attendant said she don’t feel safe on the plane with us […] as u can see even when I got kicked off I was still respectful […] The main supervisor asked everyone around us if we did something wrong or if they heard me being disrespectful all the passengers said I did nothing wrong!!!!”
In footage included with his post, which appears to be taken while Gates and a friend gather their carry-on luggage, Gates can also be seen asking a crew member to confirm what had just happened to his followers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I don’t want them to get mad at me because I can’t make my show in Minnesota, you know what I’m saying?” he asks the crew member, while speaking into the camera. "Crazy."
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Gates’ followers commented with messages of support, calling the incident “horrible” and “really rude.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another commenter, who claimed to be a JetBlue flight attendant, agreed that it isn’t “right” to kick off a passenger for their race or tattoos, but wondered if there might be more to the story that Gates was leaving out.
“Just seems like there is more to this story and I'm so tired of everyone thinking they're [entitled] to everything and filming everything,” said the commenter. “He’s stating JetBlue doesn't like Asians is stupid. There are plenty of Asian flight attendants, including myself. I'm tattooed all over and I'm 100 percent Korean.”
An Instagram user who claimed to be a flight attendant for JetBlue wondered whether Gates was telling the entire story. "There are plenty of Asian flight attendants, including myself," wrote the commenter. "I'm tattooed all over and I'm 100 percent Korean.” (iStock)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Jetblue spokesperson sent the following statement to Fox News: "The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. In this instance, after the customer started a verbal altercation with our crewmember, our team determined the situation risked escalation during flight. The team asked the customers to deplane and their fare was refunded."
A representative for Jin Gates did not immediately return a request for comment.