‘Celebrity pickleball coach’ busted commiting major violation on aircraft
He was in a real pickle.
Self-described pickleball coach Peter “Kobe” Nguyen is being ripped online for unloading on a flight attendant who allegedly busted him vaping on an American Airlines flight. He posted an Instagram video of their verbal volley hoping to garner sympathy, but this backfired horribly when commenters sided with said crew member.
In the clip, shot in the aftermath of Nguyen’s alleged bathroom E-cigarette session, the passenger is heard accusing the unnamed air hostess opening the lavatory while he was inside.
“I was actually sitting on the toilet and you were opening the door,” declared the flyer, before apologizing to the flight attendant.
“I don’t care,” she replied. “You can keep saying you’re sorry but I care about all these passengers.”
That’s when the crew member notes that Nguyen is “recording” her and attempts to snatch his phone away.
“You’re not allowed to that,” protests the pickleballer, who describes himself on his Insta profile as a “celebrity pickleball coach,” “AI expert” and “agent.”
Things escalate after Nguyen accuses her of assault. “She put her hands on me,” he yells. “I am a lawyer.”
He proceeds to repeat the assault accusations, which the flight attendant vehemently denies.
Nguyen then threatens to sic his social media fans on her, declaring, “I have 25,000 followers that are going to watch this.”
“Do you want me to release this or do you want to say sorry to me right now?” inquires the irate traveler.
The beleaguered flight attendant capitulates and apologizes, but Nguyen doesn’t appear appeased and even threatens to “call the police” on her when they land.
“You do not put your hands on a passenger,” he repeats. Then, turning his attention to the camera, he declares, “This flight attendant assaulted me.”
In a followup post, Nguyen wrote that “American Airlines customer service” had called to tell them they were conducting “internal investigation” of the incident and that “similar instances had happened in the past.”
“Justice is about to be served,” he declared in the caption.
Commenters weren’t exactly on board with Nguyen’s digital pity party. “What a sorry attempt to portray yourself as a victim,” scoffed one critic. “Stop Vaping in the airplane, case closed.”
“So disappointed this video doesn’t end with this ‘sorry’ excuse for a gentleman being escorted away by security,” said another. “No flight attendant should have to deal with this, no fly lists exist for a reason.”
Nguyen was also ridiculed on Reddit with one poster writing, “someone please develop an app that lets you punch somebody through your phone.”
“I was just waiting for him to throw in the MY DAD IS RICH,” said another.
“He’s an insufferable pos, and unfortunately, he’s not the only one,” lamented another, bemoaning the alleged rise of entitlement in the social media age. “So many people these days feel empowered by the fact that they have an audience of individuals watching them on some stream.”
They added, “The whole influencer/follower paradigm thats been brought on by these stupid phones and apps like TikTok is going to make these types of videos all the more frequent.”
The Federal Aviation Administration currently prohibits vaping on planes — an infraction that can result in a $1,771 fine.
However, this steep penalty hasn’t prevented E-cigarette enthusiasts from puffing away at 30,000 feet.
Earlier this week, a Ryanair passenger was escorted off an airplane at Edinburgh airport in Scotland after he was busted vaping in the lavatory, which resulted in a two-hour delay.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
