A funny thing happened on the way to Miami, when Vine celeb Jerome Jarre tried to shoot one of his six-second videos on an American Airlines (AAL) flight.
The drama began when the social media star attempted to make a video of himself exiting the airplane bathroom wearing nothing but a speedo and an inflatable duck. Unfortunately, an American Airlines crew member was not impressed, and told Mr. Jarre he’d be arrested once the flight landed in Miami.
“He said I was gonna be arrested,” Mr. Jarre told Betabeat over email. “He was just grumpy. There were no reason he should have done that. Many passengers were trying to defend me and were complaining how he was overreacting.”
As Internet celebs are wont to do, Mr. Jarre live-tweeted the whole affair.
Mr. Jarre pleaded with his 873,000 Twitter followers to tweet #AmericanAirlinesCHILLOUT, in the hopes it would help him avoid trouble with law enforcement.
Eleven cops boarded the plane when it landed in Miami, Mr. Jarre said.
“They asked me and my cameraman to follow them,” he told us. “Then the FBI asked us millions of questions.”
Mr. Jarre said the FBI eventually released him because he didn’t do anything illegal.
“They were very professional and good people, and they quickly realized that American Airlines [had] overreacted, and that I didn’t have any other intention than making people laugh,” he said.
When the questioning was over, Mr. Jarre sent out the following tweet — much to the relief, we presume, of thousands of frantic teens.
He insisted to us that his fans’ tweets made “a big big difference for sure,” noting that the police were printing out the tweets while he was being held for questioning. “That was funny to see,” Mr. Jarre said.
American Airlines, Mr. Jarre said, then made sure that he got a flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, his ultimate destination.
Betabeat also reached out to American Airlines, who’re taking a refreshingly humorous stance on the whole affair.
“We have a good sense of humor about the incident involving a passenger on Flight 1303,” a spokesperson for the airline told us over email. “Law enforcement did meet the aircraft upon arrival in Miami, but we are not pressing charges.”
The spokesperson also provided this official statement on behalf of the airline:
“Speedos look good on the beach, but no one likes to see them dancing down the aisle at 35,000 feet.”