At least they certainly got him talking.
It was inevitable, and now it has come to pass. After dozens or more instances of airline passengers being deemed too overweight for one seat and winding up bumped from their flight, we now have our first “celebrity bumping.” The celeb in question: Kevin Smith, actor — primarily playing the character “Silent Bob” — and director of films such as “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy” and “Cop Out,” released this past weekend, taking in a respectable $17 million.
Southwest Airlines Enforces Obesity Policy
It seems that Smith was flying out of Oakland to Burbank after speaking at the Macworld Expo, and knowing himself to be a person of above-average girth, had purchased two seats on his intended Southwest Airlines flight. However, he was also flying standby in hope of catching an earlier flight, and got lucky, or at least half-lucky: a seat became available. But only one, alas.
Smith boarded and made to occupy the seat, but he was told to exit the plane by the pilot, who declared him to be too large for one seat, in accordance with Southwest’s “Customer of Size” policy requiring passengers to fit comfortably in a single seat. Smith was put on a later flight and given a $100 voucher for his trouble, but he was not mollified. He claims that he met Southwest’s size test: being able to put both armrests down and buckle his seat belt. The airline begs to disagree.
“Silent Bob” Makes Noise
Unfortunately, it begs to disagree with a noted film personality whose Twitter page has many thousands of followers, and who began issuing indignant tweets such as, “I’m way fat, but I’m not there just yet,” and “Fair warning folks: If you look like me, you may be ejected from Southwest Air,” as well as “You (Southwest) have messed with the wrong sedentary, processed-foods eater.”
A barrage of angry blowback in the form of supportive tweets and caustic online comments quickly caught the attention of Southwest, which apologized profusely on its own Twitter page, and on its Web site in a statement headed “Not So Silent Bob,” and even directly by phone to Smith. The bad news for Southwest is that Smith is threatening to sue, unless the airline publicly states that he is “not fat.” The good news for the airline is that having voluntarily paid in advance for two seats originally, Smith has essentially admitted that he is. The even better news is that the guy they booted for being too fat is Kevin Smith, and not Michael Moore.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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Is “Silent Bob” Too Fat to Fly?