Odell Beckham Jr. was kicked off a flight bound for Los Angeles on Sunday morning, and his attorney has released a statement explaining Beckham's side of the story.
The NFL free agent was prepared for a busy week as he is scheduled to meet with the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys and decide which team he wants to play for to close out the 2022-23 season. Dallas reportedly is the favorite to sign the Super Bowl champion receiver. But things got off to a rough start after Beckham was asked to leave an airplane due to alleged concern from flight crew for the 30-year-old, who was "in and out of consciousness" while attendants asked Beckham to fasten his seat belt.
A police report stated there was fear Beckham "was seriously ill and that his condition would worsen through the expected five-hour flight," and the receiver left the airplane without incident.
Beckham's attorney, Daniel Davilier, presented a different timeline of events for his client.
"... Mr. Beckham fell asleep with his blanket over his head, which is his normal practice for long flights," Davilier's wrote in a statement, per NFL Media's Ian Rapoport. "He was awaken and told that the plane was back at the gate and that he needed to get off the plane because he did not put his seatbelt on when asked. He responded that he was asleep, and that he would put his seatbelt on at that time. He was informed it was too late, and that either he would have to get off the plane or everyone would have to depart.
"The overzealous flight attendant insisted on removing everyone from the plane instead of simply allowing Mr. Beckham to fasten his seatbelt and proceed with the flight. At no time was Mr. Beckham disruptive or combative. 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. The airline proceeded to send Mr. Beckham's luggage to Los Angeles without him.
"The incident was unnecessary," Davilier continued. "Sleeping on a plane should not be cause for removal from a flight. If they could wake him up when the flight returned to the gate, then they could have done to same thing to ask him to put on his seatbelt."
The way Beckham reacted to the incident on Twitter seems to fall in line with the timeline his attorney presented. It is not known if a lawsuit will be filed, but many can relate to an incident at an airport or in an airplane that could have been easily solved but wasn't for one reason or another.
