Odell Beckham Jr. has responded to newly released footage of his 2022 airplane incident.
On Thanksgiving weekend, the NFL free agent was escorted off an American Airlines flight headed from Miami International Airport to Los Angeles. A crew member claimed Beckham “appeared to be in and out of consciousness” as they made repeated attempts to have him fasten his seatbelt. Authorities were subsequently called to the plane after a flight attendant expressed “concern” for his safety.
Law enforcement arrived several minutes later and deplaned the aircraft before escorting Beckham off the flight. On Wednesday, the Miami-Dade Police Department released bodycam footage of the Nov. 27 incident. The video captured the moments leading up to Beckham’s removal, showing him speaking to police before getting into a tense exchange with a fellow passenger. The 30-year-old athlete addressed the footage in a series of tweets Wednesday, insisting he was minding his own business before the flight crew confronted him.
“Can’t address everything in this world, it’s exhausting. Errbody got an opinion on situations they weren’t involved in,” he wrote. “All u can do is kno who u truly are [...] YES. I do regret them makin everyone get off the plane. All I asked from the people was the reason as to why I’m being removed. They didn’t provide one except for that I was sleep … People were delayed for two hrs! I was delayed an ENTIRE WEEEK from seeing my son … there were no flights the rest of that day and the next day. So we all have shxt to do nobody’s biz was more important than the next. I was minding my own bizness. Not bothering anyone.”
Elsewhere in the video, Beckham is seen in a verbal altercation with another male passenger. He tells the man he is “everything wrong with the world,” and proceeds to insult the passenger’s looks.
“Looking at me to get off a plane, for you. I would never, ever in my life get off the plane for you. Specifically you. Maybe everybody else, I would get off the plane.” Beckham is heard telling the man. “You gon’ wait 40 minutes and I’m going to be on a private plane home. Yeah, with your fat ass. Get your ass off the plane for a second. Enjoy the cheese board on the way home with your ugly ass.”
Beckham defended his comments by claiming the man had started it.
“The one thing that no matter how much I’ve grown is still the hardest thing for me to do is let someone play wit my name. Period. For those tht kno me kno me, u kno exactly how I am. I really be koolin,” he wrote. “But, if u press that button and bring a certain energy. Do NOT be surprised when u get that same energy back.”
He continued: “I can’t lie I was so mad…… bro really said everything but the N word to me… he had to get it … if him and the other white gentleman wouldn’t of looked to me with such and entitling manner. I woulda removed myself from the plane. That’s the real reason everyone had to get off.”
Beckham’s attorney, Daniel Davillier, addressed the matter shortly after his client was removed from the plane.
“At no time was Mr. Beckham disruptive or combative,” Davillier said in a statement. “He was willing to comply with the seatbelt requirement, but the flight attendant wanted to prove that he had the authority to have Mr. Beckham removed from the flight.”
You can read some of Beckham’s tweets below.
