Pepsi should be thanking United Airlines for diverting America away from criticizing their tone-deaf SJW commercial and to the viral video of the airline juggernaut forcibly removing a passenger from a plane because they overbooked the flight.
Passengers on the plane were quick to pull out their phones to record the violent removal of the Asian passenger, which resulted in a bloody head gash as they dragged his unconscious body down the middle aisle of the plane.
It was undoubtedly an unnecessary use of violent force, but Twitter and late-night talk shows pounced on the opportunity to hilariously troll United Airlines.
Fox News reported:
“United Airlines became the butt of some late-night comedians’ jokes after it forcibly removed a 69-year-old doctor from one of its flights to make room for an airline employee who needed his seat.
Jimmy Kimmel roasted United for five minutes at the top of his show Monday night, starting with the whole concept of overbooking flights.
‘I don’t even understand this, by the way,’ Kimmel said in his monologue.
‘I’ve been to 100 games in stadiums with 50,000 seats. They never sell the seat two times to one person, but for some reason, airlines cannot figure this out.’
And then Jimmy Kimmel ended the monologue with a United Airlines airplane safety commercial parody.
Jimmy Kimmel takes on United Airlines in hilarious mock airplane safety video https://t.co/EdcSde5VvV pic.twitter.com/P1VmpYRgv1
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 11, 2017
Fox News also reported:
“Conan O’Brien also got in on the fun, joking: ‘A Turkish airline crew helped deliver a baby onboard a flight. And then, in keeping with the times, the baby was dragged from the plane by security. It was overbooked, that’s what you do! Get outta here, baby!’
But it wasn’t just the late-night pros getting in on the fun. The queen of day-time Ellen DeGeneres said: “It’s crazy – they charged him a $50 removal fee. That’s not true, that’s not true. Your first forcible removal is free.’”
The Twitter world also went to town with the satire.
Several were quick to mock the airline with the classic movie “Airplane!”
Just another day at #unitedAIRLINES #UnitedAirlinesAssault pic.twitter.com/g6GzRm1N6p
— John Hughes (@Loganx0) April 11, 2017
Lol #unitedAIRLINES @Fred_Kirsch @JumboHart amazing show pfw pic.twitter.com/ri5g8AbTl4
— Samuel Medina (@samuelishere) April 11, 2017
Nexus1974 used Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to perfectly capture the moment.
United Airlines seat overbooking policy pic.twitter.com/zWhngzF7ca #C4news
— Nexus1974 (@Nexus1974) April 11, 2017
And if you’re a Walking Dead fan then you’ll understand this reference.
United Airlines like …… pic.twitter.com/0MOTjgXX2u
— Brandon Davis (@mrbdavis3) April 11, 2017
Since the debacle, United Airlines stock has plummeted, and sources have their losses valued anywhere between $250 million and $1 billion.
Who knows if they’ll be able to bounce back, but protesters are coming out of the woodwork.