Two men and their child were kicked off a JetBlue flight from New York to San Francisco on Thursday after one of the men recognized Ivanka Trump and allegedly harassed her before takeoff.
Daniel Goldstein, an attorney from Brooklyn, accosted Ms. Trump who was traveling with her husband Jared Kushner and their three children.
“Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private.” Goldstein reportedly said. It’s unclear whether the comment was made directly to Ivanka or simply said aloud.
The ordeal was captured in images published to Twitter by Goldstein’s husband, Matthew Lasner, and a backlash is costing him on Amazon.
Lasner, a professor at Hunter College’s department of urban policy and planning in New York City, is the author of “High Life: Condo Living In The Suburban Century” and his book is being flooded with 1-star reviews, most containing plane-related puns.
Amazon user Tom Wellborn writes: “An oddly written book. Seems to start in one direction, then flys over to another unrelated subject, then jets back to yet another area, left me feeling Blue….” user fmp4369 writes: “Book left me feeling like I was stuck at an airport. Story didn’t have any altitude. Hopefully it’s not made into an in flight movie.”
Some are less subtle with their critiques: “Should be called Low Life.” writes Anthony S. “Author Matthew Lasner is one of the two angry men (married) who publicly harassed Ivanka Trump and her family on a JetBlue flight in December 2016. Do not support or purchase anything this man touches.” says Terrance Wilson.
Only one review on the Amazon product page is from someone who made a registered purchase. Someone did fire back a review in Lasner’s defense, user Axisofevil said: “Well written and researched. A thorough examination of suburban v urban existence. Not recommended for white supremacists.”
The plane altercation set off a firestorm on social media and became national news thanks mostly to Lasner’s tweets. Lasner’s tweets, all of them, have since been deleted.
A fellow passenger, Marc Scheff, who was sitting in the next row up from Trump, shared his story with facebook:
UPDATE: I'm not the guy who got kicked off the plane, I just saw it happen. I sat in front of Ivanka for the whole…
Posted by Marc Scheff on Thursday, December 22, 2016
Lasner and Goldstein with their young son were removed from the flight and put on next one available. Jet Blue in a statement said: “The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly. If the crew determines that a customer is causing a conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs the risk of escalation during flight.”
When they did arrive in San Francisco the men were confronted by TMZ. They offered no comment:
Since the controversy began Lasner’s page on the Hunter College faculty site has been removed, casting doubt over his continued employment with the school.
