A Southwest Airlines plane descends before landing at Hollywood Burbank Airport on January 29, 2026 in Burbank, California.Things are getting really bad out there, folks. A Muslim passenger aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale was removed from the plane when it landed in Atlanta after being diverted. Apparently, there was a panic on board when a timer on his phone went off that was reminding him to pray during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.Southwest Airlines flight 2094 was heading toward South Florida when it was diverted to Georgia for what a passenger called a "misunderstanding" over the phone timer, according to NBC Miami. Yeah, bud. I'll say it was a misunderstanding — certainly not any sort of anti-Muslim stereotyping whatsoever. Video posted to the Only in Dade Instagram page showed passengers on the plane with their heads lowered and their hands up as law enforcement boarded the plane and forcibly pulled the man out of his seat toward the back of the plane, placing him in what looked to be handcuffs. The scene is hard to watch, to say the least.Later, a spokesperson from the FBI in Atlanta said there was no credible threat and no charges are going to be filed against the man, who did literally nothing wrong. In a statement to NBC Miami, Southwest apologized for the "misunderstanding" and delay but made no direct mention of the man who was ripped out of his seat for a phone alarm. Here's what the company said:The Southwest Airlines Crew of Flight 2094 on Friday made the decision to divert to Atlanta out of an abundance of caution due to what turned out to be a misunderstanding of a Customer's behavior. We sincerely apologize to our Customers for the misunderstanding and the significant delay. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers." Profiling at its worstAtlanta International Airport has been the world's largest airport (annual passenger volume) for for years and one of the operation hubs of Delta Airlines. Here is a Boeing 737 airplane of Southwest Airlines in Atlanta International Airport.Of course, this incident proved to be the perfect opportunity for Republican grifters and asshats who wanted to push their racist and xenophobic ideologies about Muslim people.Georgia Congressman Mike Collins wrote on X, the everything app, "Democrats still refuse to fund TSA. This flight from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale had an emergency stop in Atlanta due to a man yelling 'Death to America! Death to Trump! I'm going to bomb the plane!' Fund TSA now. Get these terrorists out of our country." Obviously, that wasn't even close to true.Laura Loomer, that freak, posted, "BREAKING: @SouthwestAir Southwest Airlines Flight 2094 from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale, Florida was forced to divert to Atlanta late last night after a an Arabic looking Muslim passenger onboard the plane threatened to blow the plane up with a bomb! You can see the SWAT team." This was also so far from the truth it doesn't even deserve a debunking reply. House Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee quoted that Tweet, saying, "Congress must pass my Muslim Ban today!" What a terrible world we live in. Let's hope these ghouls lose access to the internet very soon. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.
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