This is the Princess Bride t-shirt that a Qantas flight attendant asked passenger Wynand Mullins to remove on a flight from Sydney to Auckland. That seems like a terrible idea, because in my experience, guys in novelty t-shirts are usually pretty stinky. But apparently the stewardess was less worried about the possibility of Mullins Mandy Pa-stinkin’ (sorry) than about the other passengers, who thought the famous Princess Bride line might be more of a statement of jihad.
Mr Mullins is used to getting questionable looks and received a few while in line waiting to board, but the reaction he received on the plane was “a bit over the top”, he said.
“The flight attendant said to me: ‘Are you able to remove it because some of the passengers are quite intimidated by it’. I thought it was all a bit silly. The person next to me was laughing, because they knew the movie.”
Mr Mullins said he didn’t have another shirt to wear and hoped he would get to wear a pilot’s shirt – but wondered how the other passengers would then react to that.
The flight attendant left in search of another T-shirt but never returned – and didn’t make eye contact with Mr Mullins again. [StuffNZ]
It seems like an extreme reaction, but what you have to remember is that the flight was on its way to New Zealand, where The Princess Bride doesn’t open for another three years. It will no doubt be a massive hit, as Billy Crystal retains Brad Pitt-like popularity there. Some Kiwis are even planning to camp out behind Bill Coogan’s wheat patch for the premiere, just to ensure that they get a tree stump to sit on.
Other evidence that this happened in Australia/New Zealand? The flight attendant was informed of her mistake and everything worked out fine. In America, he’d be in a back room with a car battery hooked to his nipples to keep the airline from having to admit a mistake.