In late December I wrote about a situation that took place before a JetBlue flight took off at JFK Airport.
President-elect Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, along with her family were seated on the plane which was heading to San Francisco. An attorney, Dan Goldstein boarded soon after with his husband Matt Lasner, an associate professor at Hunter College.
Goldstein verbally harassed Ivanka Trump, saying how her father is ruining the country along with other things. The couple was kicked off the JetBlue flight due to the abusive behavior.
A Fox News reporter, Jesse Watters (can’t say that I’ve heard of him before) decided to track down and ask some questions of the abusive attorney.
When Watters confronted Goldstein on a street in New York City, he didn’t have anything to say.
The Fox News articles mentions that Watters said “I wanted to talk to you about your behavior on the flight, sir,” and also asked “Do you regret verbally abusing Ivanka Trump? You harassed a woman with her baby on a flight; are you proud of that?”
Goldstein didn’t answer the reporter and pulled the hood of his jacket shut. My guess is that he did this to hide from having his photo taken and to more easily ignore the reporter… (Check out photos of the encounter at the link below.)
There’s also a petition at Hunter College going around to “terminate” Lasner. The Fox News reporter headed over to Hunter to get the views of students about what took place. The article shows photos of a few students who were interviewed and all were in favor of Ivanka.
Regardless of what political views you have, why would someone think that it’s acceptable to verbally attack a family traveling with young children.
What do you think about the events which took place?
Find out more from Fox News here.
SP- I’ll take your word. I’ve never heard of him before.
Tim- I completely disagree with you. We do have freedom of speech in the US but I didn’t think we had freedom of harassment.
Joey- Good points!
Joseph N- The few students shown in the article took Ivanka’s side. The airline removed them but I never heard of any other penalty/ ban for the future. Interesting point. I’m not sure a lifetime ban for flying JetBlue is appropriate but something should be done.
Phoenix- Goldstein directed his rant at Ivanka who was with her husband and kids. Not cool. This guy was looking to cause trouble based on the tweets the husband deleted.
Dan- Ivanka was flying to Hawaii via SF. I wrote it incorrectly. So sorry.
Jetblue doesn’t fly to Hawaii. Smh.
I guess I am a little interested to hear how those students felt. However, what you have is a travel blog, not a political blog. I am a lot less interested in the students’ reaction, and a lot more interested in the AIRLINES’ reaction.
Remember that pro-Trump guy who began yelling on the Delta flight? He received a LIFETIME ban, plus all the passengers on the flight had their tix refunded. This guy in the story you are referring to verbally harassed Ivanka Trump’s children. It is inconceivable that Jetblue’s punishment of this guy be less than Delta’s punishment of the other guy.
The Delta disruptive directed his ire at the entire plane. Dan Goldstein only addressed Ivanka Trump. Huge difference.
Yes Goldstein should be reprimanded, but do keep punishments proportionate to the crime committed.
I discussed this situation with friends here in NYC (who are mostly democrats) during the holidays and we all side with Ivanka. She definitely handled the situation with class. If it were Malia or Sasha on that flight and an upset Republican verbally harass them, we’d all side with Malia/Sasha no question.
It’s acceptable because she’s now a politician. She’s I heated herself into the political sphere. She’s sitting in on meetings with foreign leaders and leaving her fashion company in nyc to take a position on her dads team in DC as a politician.
What is the aaporiate forum to tell a politician you think their father is ruining the country. Should
One email? Tweet?
She chose this role for herself. She now gets all the privilege and hassle than comes along with it.
Calling John Watters a “reporter” is an insult to real reporters out there. His attempts at political humor often comes across as offensive and racist…and not funny.
Jesse Watters is a known asshole, and not the first time he’s been grossly wrong.
https://deadline.com/2016/10/daily-show-jesse-watters-chinatown-fox-news-ronny-chieng-bill-oreilly-video-1201832679/