African-American Comedian Removed From A UA Flight Over A Luggage Dispute

An African-American comedian and actor perhaps best known for his voice work in Disney's animated "The Princess And The Frog" has accused United Airlines of racism following a dispute over an overhead luggage compartment on a recent flight.

Michael Colyar brought the charges on blog "Humormill". He claims he was removed from a United flight preparing for departure from Dulles Airport (KIAD) near Washington, DC on August 11th. The actor said he was had already stowed his luggage when a flight attendant asked him to remove his bag from an overhead bin so that another passenger, who was white, could fit hers in. He said he refused, and a heated exchange of words led to the FA conferring with the rest of the flight crew and eventually calling security to have Colyar escorted off the plane.

The actor says security was called only after he asked about filing a complaint against the airline. He stridently maintains that the FA had racial motives in asking him to move his luggage, and having him taken off the plane, according to a report on the website contactmusic.com.

In the blog post, Colyar assumes a relationship between the FA and the other passenger, making reference to "the flight attendant and her friend." He writes that he should be suing UA for "theft of services, public humiliation and defamation of character."

United says it is looking into the incident, according to Tmz.com. A spokesperson said the airline has a "zero tolerance" policy towards racial discrimination.

FMI: www.united.com, http://humormillmag.com/?p=3871