‘She Boarded as a Woman of Color with a Disability’: Salt-N-Pepa Fans Outraged After Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton Claims She Was Kicked Off Flight By Southwest Airlines Allegedly Because the ‘Crew Didn’t Feel Safe’

Rapper and reality star Sandra “Pepa” Denton claims she was wrongfully removed from a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Nashville before takeoff.

The star claims she was accused of filming the crew and passengers and making people feel unsafe, but she says that did not happen.

On July 15, Denton posted a video on Instagram showing her waiting for assistance after being removed from the plane. While waiting for assistance that never came, she explained to her fans that she was removed after the flight attendants erroneously claimed she was recording them. She insists she was actually on a FaceTime call with her assistant discussing her dissatisfaction with how she was being treated.

The “Push It” chart-topper shared that she purchased two seats to accommodate her knee injury from a 2018 car crash. Still, she received pushback from the crew despite having boarding passes marked “disabled.”

“These people took me off the plane, brought this other man on the plane and took me off the plane. I’m not tryna do the race thing, but y’all know I ain’t trying to do that,” she said.

Denton says a flight attendant, also seen in the video, initially told her she could not use both seats as she did not have a cast or boot. Pepa told him that she did have a knee brace and after putting it on, the attendant apologized and allowed her to sit down with access to both seats.

“Literally took me off the plane and put another man in the two seats that I bought,” she continued as the same male attendant instructed her to get off the jet bridge to proceed with the flight.

A female attendant with red hair can also be seen in the footage, trying to hide her face and refusing to give her name.

Southwest Airlines has an open seating policy where passengers choose their seats once on board. On its website , the airline encourages customers requiring extra room to proactively purchase additional seats, which Denton says she did.

A fellow passenger, not yet seated, asked to sit in Denton’s extra seat, claiming he was on his way to a funeral. The Queens native, who makes up one half of the Salt-N-Pepa duo explained that she needed the second seat. Still, the man insisted he wanted it, causing a commotion, and prompting other passengers to weigh in with mixed reactions.

Denton told him, according to TMZ, that she would allow him to take the seat if he swore he was indeed headed to a funeral. He would not, but still pushed his way into the seat without her consent. Upset, she reached out to her assistant on FaceTime, which was mistaken for her recording the incident.

Denton was then removed from the flight.

Southwest staff stated the rapper was removed because they believed she was recording people on the plane. The male flight attendant claimed that he was told Denton was being “disruptive” and that the “crew didn’t feel safe” with her on the plane.

One fan on Pepa’s social media asked, “Filming in the world of social media is unsafe?”

Another said, “She didn’t board the plane with the air of a celebrity , she boarded as a woman of color with a disability (who happens to love Chanel) her treatment was discriminatory on many levels! To be escorted by the police from the gate? When she was removed from her two seats, without provocation or justification. Your staff weaponized the word “unsafe” in a period in time when we should all be very careful of such behavior.”

A representative from the company told TMZ that Denton was removed for not complying with crew member instructions and that the airline reimbursed her $2,500 for her two seats.

“I never thought I would be a part of the Southwest crowd of getting kicked off the plane,” she said in a live to her fans. “It’s Pepa. I can’t believe it.”

Her 399K followers could not believe it either, rushing to her comments to show her support.

“Call your lawyer,” one person wrote.

Another asked, “What about YOUR COMFORT AND YOUR KNEE??? Mannnn they can go head somewhere. If you went out the way to PURCHASE a second ticket it shouldn’t be a discussion period!”

“You’re better than me,” someone else wrote. “At that point I would’ve been ready for a lawsuit, boycott, public apology from them (especially the asian dude and white woman). I would’ve also told the police don’t talk to me either.”

A fourth comment affirmed, “You handled this with grace and class! I’m not sure I could have been this nice! I pray that whatever meeting you missed, you reschedule and I hope it brings you everything you are praying for! You got this Pep!”

According to Pepa, other passengers on the flight, who witnessed the incident, agreed to write letters to complain about her being “wrongfully removed off the plane.”

The artist has not filed a lawsuit yet.

‘She Boarded as a Woman of Color with a Disability’: Salt-N-Pepa Fans Outraged After Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton Claims She Was Kicked Off Flight By Southwest Airlines Allegedly Because the ‘Crew Didn’t Feel Safe’