A supporter of former President Donald Trump shows his colors with a "Let's Go Brandon" hat. (Photo: Al Drago)
© 2021 Bloomberg Finance LPOn a Friday-morning flight from Houston to Albuquerque, a Southwest Airlines pilot signed off an in-cabin announcement with the anti-Joe Biden meme, “Let’s Go, Brandon!”
On that flight happened to be Associated Press journalist Colleen Long, who included the incident in an article she wrote about the chant, noting that she heard “audible gasps” from passengers. A TikTok user on the same flight captured the audio of the pilot ending his message with “Thank you for flying Southwest Airlines. Welcome aboard. Let’s go, Brandon.”
Those who don’t follow politics or NASCAR could be forgiven for being unaware of the latest Trumpian meme. It goes back to October 2, when stock car driver Brandon Brown won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. In a post-race interview with Brown, NBC reporter Kelli Stavast said that the crowd could be heard yelling, “Let’s go, Brandon,” when, actually, the crowd was yelling “F—- you, Biden.” Some on the right found Stavast’s mischaracterization hilarious.
Since then, the phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon” has functioned as a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, safe-for-kids replacement of the vulgar expletive toward President Biden. Republican members of the U.S. Congress have been quick to jump on the Brandon bandwagon. Earlier this month, Florida Rep. Bill Posey uttered the phrase on the House floor with a fist pump. South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan shared a photo of himself in a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask to his Facebook feed claiming, “The American people are furious.” U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted a photo of himself at the World Series, beaming from ear to ear beside a Houston Astros fan with “Let’s Go Brandon” emblazoned in large letters across a poster. In smaller letters was the acronym, FJB, or “F—- Joe Biden.”
Rep. Duncan may be right about the fury, but wrong if implying the anger only went in one direction. As it gained steam, the meme has ceased to be a sneaky, under-the-radar way to throw an F-bomb at President Biden and has become a verbal middle finger that is not fooling anyone, hence the gasps from Southwest passengers.
Context is everything. One might reasonably expect to hear anti-Biden rhetoric at a GOP political rally, NASCAR race or baseball game but not over the loudspeaker on a commercial airline.
The backlash on social media has quickly spawned a trending #BoycottSouthwest hashtag and calls for the airline to fire the pilot. “Please fire this pilot who felt it was his duty to publicly announce his political affiliation to all passengers on board,” said a Twitter user. Another wrote: “This is the chant of the insurrectionists, the birthers & bigots. These folks killed police at our Capitol. The pilot should be fired.”
In an email to Forbes, Southwest Airlines said it “does not condone employees sharing their personal political opinions while on the job serving our customers, especially when comments are divisive and offensive.”
“Southwest is conducting an internal investigation into the recently reported incident and will address the matter directly with any employee involved,” according to the email. “The airline apologizes for this event – an action that was not reflective of the Southwest hospitality for which we are known and strive to provide each day on every flight.”
