【Ashley Lopez Archives】

2025-06-26 03:32:17 [Social Good] Source: Openness Information Network

Freelance e-sports journalist Amanda Stephens boarded a United Airlines flight on Ashley Lopez ArchivesWednesday to cover a tournament in Chicago, but never got off the ground -- at least, not on her original flight.

Her trouble began with the pilot.

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Stephens was wearing a hat emblazoned with the logo of Marvel Comics' Black Panther and a t-shirt sporting an upside-down American flag, and flight staff told her that both these articles of clothing made the pilot "uncomfortable."

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Then she was told the hat would have to go, too.

And now I am being told I can't wear my hat @united this is unreal and fucking racist pic.twitter.com/338GyYDa97
— Amanda Stevens (@sagegnosis) October 12, 2016

United staff soon booted Stevens off the flight, according to Stevens' tweets, but its Twitter team tried to intervene.

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@sagegnosis Amanda, could you please DM your confirmation number and MileagePlus information? We'd like to follow-up on this. ^KV
— United (@united) October 12, 2016

Stevens was booked on a separate flight and got to Chicago just fine, but not before the world was beginning to see what had happened to her.

Many tweeted in support.

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But plenty of folks attacked her for what she wore, too.

@sagegnosis just dress like an adult and avoid all this stuff.
— Derek Boynton (@The_Big_Show_00) October 13, 2016

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In the end, though, Stevens got a tweet from Ta-Nehisi Coates, who writes for The Atlantic, recently won a National Book Award for "Between the World and Me," and authored a new series of Black Panther comics.

That tweet, Stephens said, made the whole thing alright.