A South Korean deejay claimed she was kicked off an American Airlines flight and had to take off her sweatpants in public because they were deemed “offensive”.

DJ Soda, 36, whose real name is Hwang So-hee, is a well-known DJ in South Korea and a frequent headliner at Asian music festivals.

She took to Instagram and Twitter to relate what happened.

 

 

 

 

Pants did not meet dress code

She said she was “harassed and humiliated” on April 25 after boarding an American Airlines flight from New York to Los Angeles.

“I was forced out of the plane and was harassed to take off my pants in front of the flight crews at the gate” she wrote.

Hwang said she “never had an issue” wearing the pants on her current North American music tour.

The piece of black apparel, sponsored by the clothing brand Ripndip, contained expletives as part of its print design.

 

“They did not have any problem with me wearing it at the time of check-in nor when I sat down at my seat,” she also wrote online.

She has 4.3 million followers on Instagram and 126,000 followers on Twitter.

 

 

Told of problem after she boarded

However, Hwang said she was only told there was an issue after she had already boarded the plane.

“A staff suddenly approached me to pack up my belongings and leave the plane without any kind of explanation. As I was escorted off the plane, they claimed that my sweatpants were ‘inappropriate’ and ‘offensive,’ telling me that I need to take the next flight,” she said.

Hwang “pleaded to stay” on the flight as she needed to attend an important meeting in Los Angeles.

“I even offered to get changed, but the request was denied,” she wrote.

 

Wore pants inside out

She said “what happened next was horrendous”.

“I ended up taking off my pants in front of the whole crew and standing half-naked while they still refused to board me on the flight. They even sarcastically commented that I could have taken off my pants earlier,” Hwang wrote.

“When they finally let me enter, I put my pants inside out and finally sat down after an hour of delay causing inconvenience to the members of the flights on board,” she said.

“I was mortified and trembling in fear for the next six hours on my flight back to LA.”

She concluded her post by saying she would boycott the airline: “Hope this NEVER happens to anyone ever again.”

 

Airlines statement

American Airlines said its policies “prohibit offensive clothing”.

It issued a statement that said: “During the boarding process for American Airlines Flight 306 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, our team members informed Ms. So-hee of our policies and provided her the opportunity to change out of clothing displaying explicit language. The customer complied with requests and was allowed to continue travel, as planned, to Los Angeles International Airport,” the statement read.

The airline added that its customer relations team has reached out to Hwang to learn more about her travel experience.