The public outcry against United Airlines for dragging away a passenger in order to accommodate one of their employees resulted in a massive coverage by the media, but it took a Hollywood actor to blame an unlikely culprit - President Donald Trump.
John Cho posted on his Twitter account Monday, "It's hard not to see a connection between the environment Trump has created and what happened on that @united flight."
It's hard not to see a connection between the environment Trump has created and what happened on that @united flight.— John Cho (@John Cho) 1491855024.0
Cho is best known for playing the Sulu character in the J.J. Abrams reboot of the "Star Trek" movie franchise, and as Harold in the "Harold and Kumar" movie series. He was also a big supporter of Hillary Clinton and former President Obama.
United Airlines' CEO Oscar Munoz addressed the debacle in an email to employees where he blamed the man who was dragged away by police for not wanting to leave the flight. He said the man became “more and more disruptive and belligerent," until employees were forced to have the authorities remove him. Other passengers who witnessed the interaction dispute his description of the events.
Some on social media disagreed with the connection Cho was trying to make between the incident and Trump.
It's hard not to see a connection between your tweet and the Internet mocking you. https://t.co/NsYbmihnbL— jon gabriel (@jon gabriel) 1491856917.0
No one was ever forcibly removed from a plane before Trump. https://t.co/qc9SzXyD7h— neontaster (@neontaster) 1491876962.0
Wow, that's a leap. https://t.co/STEbIrtqlW— Colin Thomas (@Colin Thomas) 1491855178.0
Yeah, because federal airline regulations didn't exist before January 20th, and Donald just invented the Contract O… https://t.co/xo0MBPmOgZ— Craig S. Bell (@Craig S. Bell) 1491888868.0
Cho was at the center of his own public firestorm when it was revealed that his version of the Sulu character was gay. He also reprised his role as Harold to assist in former President Obama's re-election campaign in 2012.