Indo-Canadian Sikh comedian and YouTube star Jasmeet Singh, popularly known on the Internet as JusReign, was forced to take off his turban during a security check at an airport in San Francisco.
Singh revealed the incident on Twitter, and said that he was taken to a private room for a screening. He pointed out that after security cleared him in the private room, he was insensitively asked to walk across the terminal to a public bathroom without his turban in order to tie it again.
so the @tsa made me take off my turban in extra screening or they said I wouldn't be able to be let through to catch my flight— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
and naturally I'm like nah I really don't wanna do that since I got a flight to catch, but the manager intervenes and says I have to— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
so I get into the private screening and take it off and they body search me and put my turban through another X-ray machine because "safety"— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
after finding absolutely nothing wrong because a turban is just cloth and the whole thing is stupid I ask for a mirror to tie it back again— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
the agent tells me there are no mirrors and that I can just walk down the terminal to the nearest restroom
without my turban on — Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
FAM WHAT WAS THE POINT IN TAKING ME TO THE PRIVATE ROOM IF U JUST TELL ME TO WALK OUT TO THE NEAREST RESTROOM TO PUT IT BACK ON AGAIN— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
it's just super annoying having to deal with this and also @tsa put mirrors in your room if you tell me to take it off it's not that hard— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign) February 22, 2016
"Listen at the end of the day, the main issue wasn't with me taking off my turban. I get it. I followed protocol. So they could feel safe," Singh wrote on Twitter. "The issue is that after they made me remove it in a private room, I asked for a mirror to retie it again, which isn't a complicated request. Instead they told me to walk out to find a bathroom to retie. What was the point in putting me in a private room. That's the insensitive part."
Many of Singh's videos deal with issues of cultural identity among Indo-Canadians.
The incident occurred just days after Sikh-American actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia was barred from boarding an Aeromexico flight for refusing to take off his turban. The airline later apologised to Ahluwalia and said that it would train its staff on the "religious significance of the Sikh turban."