Authorities removed Australian porn star Elle Knox from her United Airlines flight after she stood to give an off-the-cuff speech about the police killing of George Floyd.
In a series of tweets, Knox said she was traveling from Houston to San Francisco en route to Sydney on Tuesday when she stood to give a short speech.
“This isn’t my country. I’m an Australian,” she recalled saying. “But I’ve noticed your democracy being threatened. Do not be complacent. Decide what side of history you’d like to be on.”
Police came shortly after she gave her speech and escorted her off the aircraft. They told her she “scared people.”
This happened, she wrote, “even though everyone applauded me when I was escorted off. If I stood up and asked people to wish my friend a happy birthday this wouldn’t be an issue.”
She claimed authorities said she could not make “political statements” on the plane. There was also some uncertainty about whether she would be able to board her next flight to Sydney.
The next day, Knox confirmed to her 172,000 Twitter followers that she was “safe” and had checked into her hotel. “DO NOT BE SILENT,” she wrote. “BE THE CHANGE.”
The contents of her speech had nothing to do with her deplaning, the aircraft alleges. A United Airlines spokesman told the New York Post that Knox’s refusal to sit is what caused law enforcement to get involved.
“As the plane landed, she got up and started yelling,” says the spokesman, Frank Benenati. “You can’t stand on an active runway. Nobody can. It’s a safety issue.”
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