Peter Mayhew Was Boarding A Flight In Denver When He Was Briefly Delayed

Actor Peter Mayhew is over 7 feet tall. You might not recognize him, because in what may be his best-known role ... the Wookiee Chewbacca in Star Wars, well, he had on the Wookiee costume. But as Mayhew was boarding a plane recently at Denver International Airport ... carrying a larger-than-normal walking stick to help support the 69-year-old actor's frame, TSA briefly stopped him to ask about the cane that reportedly resembled a light saber.

The Associated Press reports that airport officials wanted to inspect the large walking stick. Mayhew tweeted "Giant man need giant cane" about the incident, which occurred June 3. In a photo tweeted by Mayhew, the cane is about two-thirds as tall as the TSA agent.

While some have intimated that a massive social media campaign on the part of the actor's fans got him on his flight to Dallas, TSA is having none of that. They said in a statement that "(b)ecause of the unusual weight of the passenger’s cane, a security officer alerted a supervisor. Less than five minutes later the passenger and cane were cleared to travel. Social media played no role in the determination."

So Mayhew was cleared to fly. No word as to whether the plane made the Dallas run in less than 12 parsecs.

FMI: www.tsa.gov