According to their complaint, the men, all New York residents, had been traveling to NYC from Southern California when an American Airlines representative approached each of them during a layover in Phoenix, Arizona, and ordered each of them off the plane without any explanation.
According to their complaint, none of the three men knew each other. Jackson, a professional musician and music teacher, had been in California to tour with his band, the complaint stated. Joseph, a professional actor, went to Los Angeles to spend the holidays with friends, while Veal, a production assistant, was helping a friend move to the city.
Yet the airline representative ordered them and five other Black men off the plane, they alleged.
The men said they demanded an explanation, to which American Airlines representatives allegedly told them that they were ordered off the plane because someone complained about an offensive body odor. The men alleged that when they later arrived at the gate, a different airline representative told them that a white male flight attendant had made the complaint.
