Sam Saadeh, of Linden, New Jersey, says he was pulled aside while boarding a United Airlines flight on 4 June after a flight attendant found his T-shirt offensive. The shirt read, “Bombing kids is not self defense.”
Saadeh was travelling from Atlanta to Newark Liberty International Airport when a United supervisor approached him shortly after he took his seat, according to CBS New York. He was told he could either change his shirt or be removed from the flight.
Saadeh said he was “very confused” when he was pulled aside. “He was like, ‘Hey, the flight attendant finds your shirt offensive,'” Saadeh recalled. “I was like, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Here are the choices. Either you change your shirt or you can’t get on this flight.'”
Saadeh ultimately changed shirts because he wanted to make it home, CBS New York reported. He described the interaction as humiliating and said airline personnel could not explain why the message violated company policy.
United Airlines confirmed to Fox News Digital that Saadeh travelled on the flight after changing his shirt. “This customer flew as scheduled after changing his shirt,” a United Media Relations spokesperson said. “That’s all we’ll have to share.”
United’s Contract of Carriage states the airline may refuse transportation to passengers who are not properly clothed, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene or offensive. Fox News Digital has not independently verified Saadeh’s account, and United declined to provide additional details about why the shirt was deemed offensive.
Saadeh, who is of Palestinian descent, told CBS New York the shirt was intended to advocate for children and oppose violence regardless of nationality or ethnicity. He said he filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation and is consulting with attorneys.
Wear the Peace, the organisation behind the shirt, posted screenshots on Facebook of what it said was an email Saadeh sent describing the incident. In the email, Saadeh wrote that a United flight attendant first asked what his shirt said before a supervisor later asked him to get off the plane.
According to the email, the supervisor told Saadeh the flight attendant was offended by the shirt because it contained the word “bomb” and said he would have to change it or he would not be allowed to remain on the flight. Saadeh also wrote that after landing in Newark, a United representative told him other passengers had complained because they found the shirt offensive and felt unsafe.
In a Facebook post, Wear the Peace said the shirt was “a peaceful statement, not a threat” intended to draw attention to the deaths of children in Gaza. “The message does not encourage violence, threaten anyone, or suggest that the person wearing it intends to harm others,” the organisation wrote.
In a follow up post, Wear the Peace disputed the explanation that the word “bomb” prompted concern, arguing there was an important distinction between the phrase on the shirt and language suggesting a passenger posed a threat. “The shirt did not say, ‘I have a bomb.’ It said, ‘Bombing kids is not self defense,'” the organisation wrote, adding that clothing containing words such as “TNT” or “killer” is not typically treated as a security concern.
Wear the Peace also said one of its members recently flew on a United flight alongside a passenger wearing an Israel Defense Forces shirt without incident, arguing the airline applied its policy inconsistently.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Department of Transportation to confirm receipt of Saadeh’s complaint, inquire whether the agency is reviewing the incident, and request comment on the allegations that a passenger was required to change his clothing before being allowed to travel.
