National

Bahamian Actor Kicked Off Delta Flight, Claims Racism

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Jeffrey Poitier has appeared in Oscar-nominated Lee Daniel’s “The Butler” and plays Herman on the television series “Underground” since 2016.

Published

3 years ago

March 24, 2023

Kendeno Knowles

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Jeffrey Poitier has appeared in Oscar-nominated Lee Daniel’s “The Butler” and plays Herman on the television series “Underground” since 2016.

Despite his decorated career in Hollywood and as veteran Bahamian actor/producer, Poitier became the target of what he’s calling blatant racism after he was kicked off a Delta airlines flight earlier this month.

Poitier says he left The Bahamas on a Delta flight to New Orleans on March 6.

While on a connecting to Atlanta, he says a red-haired female passenger used a racial slur against him, saying “f*** you” before using the “n*****” word.

Poitier, who is the nephew and protege of Bahamian screen legend Sir Sidney Poitier, said after a seating mix-up, the passenger used the racial slur as he tried to get his beverages from under the seat to relocate.

However, he claims the woman became irate as he was moving. Once he sat down, he says he called his wife Ellie, to tell her what was happening.

That’s when he noticed the woman pushing the attendant call button.

Still on the phone with his wife at this point, Poitier claims that’s when a white flight attendant got involved.

He says his shock continued when the flight attendant asked him to leave the plane instead of the woman who used the slur.

The next day Poitier returned to the airport and spoke with a representative who handles onboard incidents.

It was only then, he says he was finally able to tell his story, filing an incident report.

He was glowing about the support from the Atlanta Delta crew.

It has been nearly a month since the incident and Poitier’s publicist Arthia Nixon claims attempts to resolve the issue have been met with resistance from airline representatives who she said advised it was being investigated.

Our News reached out to the airline, but Delta did not immediately respond to the request for comment.