Kevin Smith was kicked off of a Southwest airlines plane because he was deemed “a safety risk” because of his size.

What?

I know that obesity can definitely be a health risk, but is it really a risk for the other passengers on the planes? The weirder thing is that Kevin Smith claims to have met the airline’s “size restrictions”, and probably would not have been a nuisance to the his seat-mates. And, let’s be honest here- if you were sitting next to Kevin Smith on a plane, wouldn’t you be a little bit excited to talk him about “Clerks” or “Jay and Silent Bob”?

In his “Smodcast” (Kevin Smith’s personal podcast), Kevin Smith refers to his,“portly misadventure” on Southwest Airlines, and viciously terms Southwest Airlines as the “Greyhound of the skies” or the “Welfare airline” and discusses his decision to get “one seat” on the plane as opposed to two seats.  If you are unfamiliar with Kevin Smith’s actual size, he describes himself as a “fat man” who is not quite the large size of John Candy and actually more representative of a lot of Americans.

The stewardess on the flight told him that it was the pilot who actually wanted him ejected from the plane, but according to Kevin Smith, the pilot wouldn’t have been able to see him. Neither of the passengers next to him were “too squished” to make the hour-long flight. He got off the flight, and immediately started “tweeting” and encouraging “large people” or those who look like him to boycott SW Airlines.

The best part of his Smodcast “podcast”  comes about half-way through (minute 45-ish) when his explanation turns to expletives, a rant against employees wielding their power in nefarious ways, and a warning to Southwest Airlines to watch their backs.


Southwest Airline has a “Customer of Size” policy, which was apparently brought into fruition 25 years ago.


This isn’t the first controversy involving airlines and weight restrictions. Roughly a year ago, Ryanair was considering charging obese passengers more for their tickets, based solely on their body-weight. Many were questioning whether passengers would be forced to be weighed on luggage scales, and how the so-called “fat tax” would be administered. It appears that that particular fee has been taken off the table.