Plane erupts in cheers after woman shouting homophobic slurs gets thrown off flight

A realtor from Texas got dragged off the flight for refusing to wear a mask. The passengers on the flight broke into applause and cheers as the woman, later identified as Kelci Cashman on social media, was ejected from the flight that was departing the Orlando International Airport. The woman hurled homophobic slurs at other passengers while being removed from the plane bound for DFW airport. The video of the incident was posted as two separate clips on Snapchat, which were later shared on Twitter. She was ejected along with other members accompanying her, including young children. She could be seen calling someone 'fa*got' as she argued with other passengers while being escorted out, reported Los Angeles Blade. She appeared to be carrying one of her children as she ranted at the passengers.

As she hurled homophobic slurs at a passenger, she could be heard shouting at them, “You think I talk to my kids about same-sex marriage. No, we don’t talk about that. But if we all want to talk about it, let’s talk about it,” she said. The other passengers celebrated her exit with one person telling her, "No one wants to listen to your bigotry.” Another passenger could be heard shouting, "Get off the plane.” After the video was uploaded online, many identified the woman as Kelci Cashman, a realtor from Texas. The Facebook page and LinkedIn profile of the realtor was pulled down after the video went viral and are unavailable now. There was a North Dallas real estate company listing for Cashman but the company didn't respond to any calls.

She had refused to wear a mask on the flight, leading to her ejection. Many passengers have refused to abide by the airline and government rules over the mask mandates, causing disruptions to flights and attacking flight crew. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA), said the agency had received close to 3,000+ reports of unruly behavior by passengers, including about 2,300 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal facemask mandate as of January 1, 2021. FAA also announced that it would soon start imposing heavy fines on unruly and dangerous behavior by passengers. FAA said such measures were being taken as part of the FAA’s zero-tolerance policy. The agency has proposed more than $682,000 in fines against unruly passengers.

There has been a sharp rise in unruly behavior on flights with regards to the mask mandate and CNBC reported on July 15, that the FAA said 150 cases of unruly passengers were reported in the past week, which was the biggest weekly surge of the summer. The partisan divide over wearing masks has made the jobs of flight crew more stressful than ever. Flight attendants can be fired for not enforcing the FAA’s rules, and many are speaking out about the stress and anxiety caused by unruly passengers. “It’s definitely out of control,” said flight attendant Matthew Cook. “I have apprehensions [about] going to work every day. I have a lot of anxiety.”

Many of them are not opening up about the sharp rise in attacks from unruly passengers out of fear of retaliation by their employers. “Absolutely, our jobs are getting harder,” said Mitra Amirzadeh, a flight attendant. “We had a gate agent that was punched in the head so bad, so severely, that she had to go to the hospital and ended up with a knot the size of an orange ... on top of her forehead,” said Amirzadeh. "I think people are using the mask mandate as an excuse for poor behavior. A rule is a rule.” Amirzadeh believes there should be harsher punishment meted out to unruly passengers. “If it were up to me, not only would they go to jail, they’d pay a fine. And they wouldn’t be allowed to fly any air carrier [ever again],” said Amirzadeh.