Airline forces cancer survivor to cover up sweatshirt celebrating her recovery

American Airlines says its policies ‘prohibit clothing that displays offensive statements’

File: An American Airlines plane approaches Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on 24 February, 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

A two-time cancer survivor has said she was made to cover up a sweatshirt carrying a message celebrating her recovery during an American Airlines flight.

The airline said its staff believed the shirt, which carried the words “F*** cancer”, breached its policies relating to “offensive” or “inappropriate” language. But it has since apologised, and said the context of the swear word should have been taken into account.

Roslyn Singleton defended the item of clothing, telling WSOC-TV that the message described her exact “sentiments on something that has tried to kill me twice”. She said she initially asked to see the company policy, but complied when told by an airlines employee to cover the message on the sweatshirt. 

Another member of staff later approached her about the same issue even after she had already covered her sweatshirt, she said.

In a statement, the airline said that “American’s policies prohibit clothing that displays offensive statements and inappropriate language from being worn on board.”

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“In this instance, our team should have taken the broader context of the message displayed on the customer’s shirt into consideration when explaining our policies.”

American Airlines said its team is reaching out to “learn more about Ms Singleton’s experience, apologise and reaffirm our support for efforts to fight cancer”.

Ms Singleton said she had a problem with how the employees treated her and not with what they asked her to do. “If I would’ve been approached differently, and the delivery would’ve been different, I would’ve gladly had no problem, but I was humiliated,” she told WSOC-TV.

American Airlines partnered with Stand Up To Cancer last year and covered an Airbus A321 with 22,627 names of cancer survivors, patients and those who lost their battle to cancer. The airbus debuted at Miami International Airport in December.