{"id":760758,"date":"2026-07-13T17:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/760758\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:32:14","slug":"n-j-man-says-he-was-almost-kicked-off-plane-after-flight-attendant-found-shirt-offensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/760758\/","title":{"rendered":"N.J. man says he was almost kicked off plane after flight attendant found shirt offensive"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Jersey man says his T-shirt nearly got him kicked off a United Airlines flight.<\/p>\n

Sam Saadeh, of Linden, was on a flight traveling from Atlanta to Newark Liberty International Airport on June 4 while wearing a T-shirt that said, “Bombing kids is not self defense.”<\/p>\n

Saadeh, who is of Palestinian descent, said the T-shirt holds a deeper meaning and advocates for children.<\/p>\n

According to a recent United Nations report<\/a>, more than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza by Israel in what have been described as targeted attacks. The Israeli government has rejected the report<\/a> and has denied deliberately targeting civilians.<\/p>\n

“Change your shirt or you can’t get on this flight”<\/p>\n

Saadeh told CBS News New York he was “very confused” when a supervisor pulled him off the plane just after boarding.<\/p>\n

“He was like, ‘Hey, the flight attendant finds your shirt offensive,’ and I was like, ‘Why?'” Saadeh said. “He goes, ‘Here are the choices. Either you change your shirt or you can’t get on this flight.'”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A New Jersey man was on a flight traveling from Atlanta to Newark on June 4, 2026, while wearing a T-shirt that said, “Bombing kids is not self defense.”<\/p>\n

CBS News New York<\/p>\n

Both upset and humiliated, Saadeh says he opted to change, but claims he couldn’t get specific answers, even when he landed in Newark, where he spoke to airline personnel.<\/p>\n

“She kept saying, like, ‘You could see how the shirt is offensive.’ I was like, ‘I can’t see how the shirt is offensive,'” Saadeh said. “She was like, ‘It’s 2026.’ I was like, ‘I know what year it is.'”<\/p>\n

He added, ” ‘Do you think kids shouldn’t be bombed, or kids should be bombed? Like, what are you offended by?'”<\/p>\n

Flier files complaint with DOT<\/p>\n

A United spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News New York, “This customer flew as scheduled after changing his shirt.”<\/p>\n

As per the airline’s rules posted on its website, United has the right to deny transport to passengers who are “not properly clothed, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene or offensive.”<\/p>\n

Saadeh said he is consulting with lawyers.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, this shirt, to me, is very clear that I think bombing kids is wrong … regardless if you’re Palestinian or if you’re from Mobile, Alabama,” he said.<\/p>\n

Saadeh said he has filed an official complaint about the incident with the United States Department of Transportation, adding that he’ll continue to wear the T-shirt at the center of the situation.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Jersey man says his T-shirt nearly got him kicked off a United Airlines flight. Sam Saadeh,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,15970,15972],"class_list":["post-760758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-newark-liberty-international-airport","tag-united-airlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}