The backlash has begun. Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant feted as a "folk hero" after his dramatic post-flight meltdown, has been accused of starting the fight that led to his dramatic beer-grabbing, chute-sliding exit. Passengers on the JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to New York have subsequently said that Slater was repeatedly rude to fliers and "spent much of the 90-minute flight slamming overhead bins and refrigerator doors." Is Slater a hero — or is he just a jerk? (Watch Steven Slater's brief press conference)
This story is no laughing matter: The more you hear about Steven Slater, says an editorial in the New York Daily News, "the less amusing the story becomes." Didn't his colleagues realize he was becoming "unhinged"? No one should be allowed to act "childishly out of control" while they are responsible for people's safety. If a passenger had behaved like this, "handcuffs might well have been in the offing."
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