Delta Faces Boycott Over MAGA Hat Incident
Welcome to Reality Check, a newsletter that helps you keep track of the false claims and online conspiracy theories that shape our world — and who’s behind them.
A note to our readers: Powerful forces are working to stop independent, apolitical news organizations like NewsGuard from reporting on false claims — everything from elections in Moldova to what political T-shirt a murder suspect was wearing to whether abortions cause cancer — and those spreading them. We’ve faced unconstitutional censorship attempts by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and threats of violence by foreign disinformation operatives.
Unlike others, we have not given an inch — and we don’t intend to. Please support our work by becoming a Premium Member and telling your friends about Reality Check.
Follow us: X | LinkedIn | Instagram | Bluesky
MAGA Supporters Call for Boycott of Delta for Supposedly Removing Passenger for Wearing a Pro-Trump Hat
By Ines Chomnalez and Sofia Rubinson
What happened: Conservative social media users are calling for a boycott of Delta Air Lines for supposedly removing a passenger from a plane because he was wearing a MAGA hat.
A closer look: On Oct. 8, conservative social media users began sharing a seven-minute video made by a passenger who claimed that a Delta pilot removed him from a plane because he was wearing a pro-Trump hat.
You can watch the video here:
The video showed the passenger being escorted off the plane and then having a conversation with the pilot and a flight attendant inside the airport.
While the video only began to spread online in October 2025, it was filmed in 2022, according to Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant. It is not clear why the video only came to light now.
The hat, which had the same red-on-white lettering and font as the pro-Trump Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats, says “Build Back Better My A—,” an apparent jab at former President Joe Biden’s infrastructure, climate, and social spending agenda. Users sharing the claim accused Delta of targeting and punishing the man for being a Trump supporter.
X account @Rightanglenews posted the video on Oct. 9 with the caption, “BREAKING — Delta Airlines is facing massive backlash as customers boycott and demand refunds after the airline refused to take action against a pilot and DEI flight attendant who removed an elderly man from a flight for wearing a MAGA hat.” The post received 4.1 million views and 54,000 likes in one day.
Pro-Trump X user @Azariel91 posted the video and stated, “If someone got on a plane with an LBGTblahblahblah, not a word would be said.” The post received 1.1 million views and 24,000 likes in two days.
Actually: The pilot and a flight attendant are seen in the video telling the passenger that he was removed from the flight for insisting on wearing a hat that displayed an expletive — not because of the hat’s apparent pro-Trump sentiment.
At one point the flight attendant says, “I have denied passengers [wearing clothing] that says, for example, ‘B–- one,’ ‘B–- girl,’ or a profanity, they should have to cover it up.” The pilot later tells the passenger, “I’m an ultraconservative, I’m probably more ultra-MAGA than you are,” suggesting that the man’s removal was not politically motivated.
This incident is consistent with Delta’s past practice of removing passengers from flights for displaying profanity on clothing.
In March 2022, Delta removed a passenger from a plane for wearing a sweatshirt that said “F– Biden,” news site The National Desk reported. The airline told the site at the time that it “prohibited customers from displaying profane or derogatory words or images.”
In response to an emailed inquiry about the video spreading in October 2025, Delta spokesperson Durrant told NewsGuard: “This video is old — from 2022. The matter was resolved then.” Durrant did not respond to a follow-up email inquiring about how the matter was resolved, about the claim that the passenger was removed for wearing a political hat, and Delta’s policy on passengers wearing clothing with profanity.
Learn more about Reality Check’s Premium Membership here.
In Case You Missed It … How Russia Laundered a Lie About Ukraine Through Congress
In an Oct. 14 commentary, NewsGuard’s Eva Maitland and McKenzie Sadeghi describe how a false corruption claim about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made its way from an article planted on a fringe pro-Russian Turkish website to the X account of a U.S. lawmaker, and back to Russian state media — which then attributed the claim to the lawmaker.
“A lie invented in the service of Russian interests could now be cited by Russian media as proof that even American lawmakers recognized the truth of Ukrainian corruption,” they wrote. “The laundromat worked as designed.”
Read the full commentary here.
You find, we report: Let your fellow Reality Check readers know about false claims you run across online. Our analysts debunk false claims before any others 80% of the time, but we can’t catch everything. If you find what looks like a false claim, let us know. We’ll investigate and report back in Reality Check.
Reality Check is produced by co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
We launched Reality Check after seeing how much interest there is in our work beyond the business and tech communities that we otherwise serve. Subscribe to this newsletter to support our apolitical mission to counter false claims for readers, brands, and democracies. Our work is more important than ever.
Have feedback? Send us an email: realitycheck@newsguardtech.com.