Normally I shy away from these self-righteous celebrity stories that tangle with the media or have some crazy, drunken experience at a night club or whatever; because honestly, I don’t give a rat’s ass. Celebrities are just people and I don’t really care what they do on their own time (public or private). It’s not interesting to me in the slightest. But this is Kevin Smith.
A quick rundown of the story is that Smith was ejected from a SouthWest flight because he was allegedly too fat; though SouthWest wouldn’t actually use the term “fat.” There is a lot more to the story and involves having bought two seats, a bunch of conspiracy theories and some obvious half-truths coming from the SW employees on the plane. And of course Kevin Tweeting the hell out of the story immediately following his ejection. SW, not realizing who they threw off their plane, are now in full on panic mode trying to placate the situation because of Smith’s platform.
So A) this isn’t just some quick run in or happening at a night club or something. This was an “epic” event that (the way Kevin tells it) spanned about 5 or 6 hours and doesn’t involve only him. And B) It is now a mission of about a million Smith disciples and the story has just gone completely platinum. It’s just too juicy not to have some fun with.
If you’ve seen the An Evening with Kevin Smith movies, you know this guy tells personal stories like no one else and is not short of self-depricating humor. If he wasn’t a great indie film maker, the guy should seriously be doing stand-up in NYC or something. Seriously; it’s that entertaining.
So when this story began to take the webs by storm late Sunday night, I had to check it out because you know, you just know, that Smith is gonna rant about this in some entertaining fashion. And rant he did. Below you’ll find all the links that tell the story from Sunday night through right now. I mostly recommend listening to the SmodCast in which he relates the whole story to his wife immediately upon arriving home.
SmodCast episode 106 (on iTunes)
Kevin Smith’s Twitter
SW Airlines Twitter
Silent Bob rages
SW apologizes, but defends policy
SW Rep, Linda talks to Kevin
SW Airlines policy on “customers of size”
I wanted to leave my personal thoughts on the matter for the comment section. I am 90% on the side of Kevin here. Granted I’ve really only heard the story from Kevin’s side, but even if he is too fat (which he claims he isn’t and has offered up challenges to prove it), the way SW went about removing him from the flight is TOTALLY unacceptable. As a customer service agent of sorts myself, I know how to treat a paying customer and how to not treat one.
This story is ridiculous. No one deserves to be treated like this. And again, if you listen to the SmodCast, Kevin isn’t even all that upset for himself. He’s REALLY steaming for the chick sitting next to him on his second flight.
The irony of Kevin Smith, The director of Clerks, being humiliated by poor customer service is pretty thick. But yea, if Smith wasn’t To Fat To Fly, and was kicked off the plane in public, that is TOTALLY uncalled for, celebrity or not.
“The irony of Kevin Smith, The director of Clerks, being humiliated by poor customer service is pretty thick.”
Which he explicitly mentions in his podcast. Again, take a listen to it. If for no other reason than it’s pretty entertaining and a great story (per usual from him).
yeah… I’d like to hear the guy next to him’s opinion of how well he fit in his seat.
It also costs more to transport a fat person so it’s right that he should be charged for two seats even if he did manage to wedge his ass into one.
Is everyone just spouting off without actually reading anything or at the very least listening to the podcast? The two ladies on both sides of him were clear on their opinion.
I’m not against Smith. I think he was completely in his right to be vocal with the airline. I just smile at the Irony of the whole thing. (After all he makes his living to a degree from Clerks (customer Service gone wild) and also on his talk-circuit calling himself a ‘tubby-bitch’
But that podcast was entertaining and the man certainly has a point about customer service and empowerment in this day and age.
Oh yeah, I totally listened to it yesterday and followed the story. The way that the airline handled it was humiliating and degrading. I’m on Team Kevin here.
CNET has a wonderful piece on the 21st century age of celebrity twitterers, PR, and customer service.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10454328-36.html
…and the Daily Show Challenge issued by Smith:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/16/kevin-smith-challenges-so_n_463886.html
@ Is everyone just spouting off without actually reading anything or at the very least listening to the podcast?
I only listened to the first 45 minutes sorry. The guy goes on for another hour about the subtle distinction between enormously fat and too fat to fly.
@ yeah… I’d like to hear the guy next to him’s opinion of how well he fit in his seat.
You’re right, he does address this point. He asks the old lady next to him if he’s smooshed into her and she says “it’s only an hour flight”
I rest my case. Hey lardass maybe your wife’s definition of what qualifies as spilling out of your seat is different than an imposed upon strangers.
I’m on team South West Airlines considers the rights and dignity of the other people on the flight.
Something that you might add not mentioned he recently started smoking pot which hes mentioned on his radio show appearances lately, which could be a reason for the weight gain. He also admitted to breaking a toilet in an article that came out around the time of that Zack Porno movie he did.
Seems Chicago Sun Times agrees…
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/2052371,CST-EDT-edit17b.article
THEY COME FOR KEVIN SMITH! NO SPOKE UP BECAUSE DRUNK HULK SLIGHT OVERWEIGHT! THEN THEY COME FOR DRUNK HULK! THEN NO ONE LEFT TO FLY PLANE!
Airline seats seem to be getting smaller. I’m a tall skinny guy, and I take up the whole seat plus a little if I actually want to be comfortable.
That said, SW really should have a more discrete way of refusing service if they have a policy requiring the purchase of extra space for people who take up extra space. It’s just bad business to yoink people out of their seat.
It’s a celebrity mudslinging event, so I’m going with the safe bet that everyone is in the wrong here.