Lena Dunham Accuses American Airlines Flight Attendants Of Transphobic Talk
Ah, first class – where you get actual champagne instead of a $10 glass of white wine and a straw to blow bubbles into. But this isn’t about how Lena Dunham is living the life, it’s about how Lena Dunham wasn’t feeling some hateful words that allegedly came out of the mouths of two American Airlines flight attendants, and how she publicly called them out for it.
On Wednesday evening, Lena Dunham was scheduled to fly out of JFK airport. Her flight was delayed for several hours and she was stuck hanging around the terminal. Lena live-tweeted the whole thing, and thank goodness she did, because she’ll want good notes if she decides to write a movie about the horrors she experienced while stranded in Hell’s home away from home, the airport.
Y'all, they let us board the plane, we waited an hour then they asked us to get off. The vibe is very Les Mis RN.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 3, 2017
During that awful ordeal, Lena claims one of the many shitty things she experienced was overhearing two flight attendants in American Airlines uniforms having a transphobic chat.
Not gonna call out the airline who delayed cuz shit happens BUT I did just overhear 2 @AmericanAir attendants having a transphobic talk.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 3, 2017
It sucked. Delay us all night but don't make us listen to uniformed employees belittle transfolk in a public space.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 3, 2017
Not only did she tag them in her tweet, she also direct messaged them with more information.
Well this night just keeps evolving pic.twitter.com/gYfXadYBUH
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 3, 2017
About ten minutes later, American Airlines responded to Lena’s message, asking her to provide a bit more information on the gate number where that not-right conversation allegedly took place.
An American Airlines rep spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about this alleged incident, saying that they’re looking into Lena’s allegations. That rep also said something that makes it sound like they might be doubting Lena’s story just a teeny-tiny bit. Hmmm…I don’t know if shading someone accusing your staff of trans hate is something they’d recommend in PR 101.
He added that American Airlines is “not the only airline that serves that terminal in JFK,” and noted that the last departure and arrival of an American Airlines plane happened “nearly an hour and a half” before Dunham tweeted about the incident.
Despite the fact that Lena kind of has a history of exaggerating the truth, I’m inclined to believe her, if only because stories about airlines and flight attendants acting the fool by saying or doing dumb shit aren’t uncommon. But what I can’t believe is that those flight attendants allegedly went there with their conversation. Here are some work-appropriate topics: Who left the snack cart a mess. How that passenger’s blanket came back smelling so weird. Why they all have to dress like Mormon funeral directors. Honestly, for being the type of people who have seen it all, you would think flight attendants would have better things to talk about.
Pic: Instagram