Kevin Smith has certainly had better press in the run-up to the release of his movies. First, there was the chatter about his idea for a fan-financed “Red State” and now, over the President’s Day long weekend, Smith was booted from a SouthWest Airlines for being a bit too…..zaftig.
If you missed the controversy which exploded over Twitter and then made its way to the press, the long and short of it is: Kevin Smith was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight and all hell broke loose. It was assumed that his removal was due to the director’s considerable size, and naturally, he was enraged at how he was treated, particularly considering that he fit in the seat comfortably, his seatmates didn’t seem to mind and he was already on the plane.
Anyway, Kevin Smith has said his last word on the incident (for now) over at his blog and in summary it goes like this. Smith was flying standby and though he was initially allowed to board the flight, it turns out Southwest was still having issues getting all their passengers on board as another flyer had purchased two seats and they were having trouble accommodating that person in additional to those who had purchased their tickets. A decision was made that someone would have to be removed and it turned out be Smith who got the boot. Airline employees thought that Smith would be more comfortable on a flight where he might be afforded the space of an empty seat beside him, even though he was already seated without any issues.
So, Southwest’s official line is that he wasn’t removed because he was fat, but actually, he kind of was. Um, right.
Anyway, you can you hit Smith’s blog and Southwest’s blog to compare notes. Also, if you feel so inclined you trawl through Smith’s Twitter where this has been pretty much the only topic of conversation for the last 72 hours.
Our opinion? Southwest probably could’ve handled the situation with a bit more discretion and clear communication. And while Smith got attention due his Twittering about the issue, we can only imagine how many regular Joes are being booted from flights every day for fairly capricious reasons. And this is an issue that not just unique to Southwest but pretty much every airline out there. So there is a lesson somewhere in here but we’ll be damned if anyone learns anything from it.
Oh yeah, “Cop Out” opens on February 26th and as far as we know has nothing to do with fat people, airlines or independent film financing.