Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
It’s not all glamour for professional basketball players.
At least, when you’re playing in the G-League.
This is one (large) step below the NBA.
Why, sometimes you have to fly American Airlines and get kicked off the plane for, well, what exactly?
Marquis Teague and Trahson Burrell play for the G-League’s Memphis Hustle.
On Christmas Eve, they were flying on American Airlines flight 3756 from Dallas to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
As The Undefeated reports, they weren’t flying First Class. However, two passengers who were gave them their blankets as a gesture of, you know, niceness.
It seems that when the two players took their seats in coach — please imagine what it’s like when you’re tall and you’re in coach — a Flight Attendant accused them of stealing the blankets.
Words were exchanged and, as happens on planes, those words led to the two players being asked off the flight — which was operated by Envoy Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American.
The Hustle’s assistant coach Darnell Lazare believes this was a clear case of racial profiling.
It’s 2017 and a Flight attendant for @AmericanAir sees 2 young black athletes with blankets from first class, his 1st comment is “did you steal them” how about you teach people to get the facts first before jumping to conclusions. #beingblackinamerican
— Darnell Lazare (@Dhouse35) December 24, 2017
I contacted American to ask whether it was concerned that the players’ race was a large factor in how they were treated.
“We apologize for what occurred on this flight. We take pride in bringing people together, and we know that on this flight we let some of our customers down. Our team at American, along with Envoy Air, is reviewing what happened, and will be reaching out to them,” an airline spokesman told me.
This is a troubling look for American Airlines.
It’s already been subject to an NAACP travel advisory. The organization said it was “warning African Americans about their safety and well-being when patronizing American Airlines or traveling on American Airlines flights.”
This came after Women’s March activist Tamika Mallory was thrown off an American flight by the pilot, following a disagreement about a seat assignment.
This was only one of four recent occurrences involving African-Americans being treated poorly.
American met with NAACP representatives just a few weeks ago and promised to make changes.
In this latest incident, I understand that the Flight Attendant was also African-American.
Some might feel, though, that this changes nothing about the larger issue that appears to be involved here — the alleged profiling of customers.
I wonder if the NAACP will want to meet with American again.