Delta bans purported Osama bin Laden killer for not wearing a mask
ATLANTA (AP) — A former Navy SEAL who has said he killed Osama bin Laden has been banned by Delta Air Lines after removing his face mask during a flight.
Robert O’Neill tweeted about his ban on Thursday, and the airline confirmed the action.
I just got banned from @Delta for posting a picture. Wow.
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) August 20, 2020
“Part of every customer’s commitment prior to traveling on Delta is the requirement to acknowledge our updated travel policies, which includes wearing a mask,” the airline said in a statement. “Failure to comply with our mask-wearing mandate can result in losing the ability to fly Delta in the future.”
All major U.S. airlines require passengers to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Delta says it has banned more than 100 passengers for violating the rule.
O’Neill posted a selfie showing himself, with no mask, on a Delta Connection flight Wednesday from Minneapolis to Newark, New Jersey. Other passengers in the photo, including a man across the aisle who was wearing a Marine Corps hat, were wearing masks. The tweet was later deleted.
Ex-Navy SEAL who claims he killed Osama bin Laden brags about not wearing mask https://t.co/mXGRg2jqLv pic.twitter.com/stcMQ5aJ53
— New York Post (@nypost) August 19, 2020
In another tweet Thursday, O’Neill said, “Thank God it wasn’t @Delta flying us in when we killed bin Laden… we weren’t wearing masks…”
https://twitter.com/mchooyah/status/1296567041516806145
O’Neill first said in 2014 that he fired the shots that killed bin Laden during a 2011 raid on the terrorist’s compound in Pakistan. The U.S. government has neither confirmed nor denied the account. O’Neill later wrote a book about his time in the SEALs. He has 375,000 followers on Twitter.
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