"Do terrorists wear Manolo Blahniks?" That's the question an outraged Joan Rivers asked Sunday after gate agents detained her as she was attempting to board a flight in Costa Rica. The 76-year-old Rivers was booted from her Newark-bound flight when jittery officials deemed her passport (which reads "Joan Rivers AKA Rosenberg") and boarding pass "suspicious." After being left practically penniless, Rivers was eventually shuttled to another flight at the country's main airport by a "sympathetic porter." Was the entertainer's bad experience just fodder for late night jokes, or does it suggest a fundamental problem in airport security practices? (Watch Joan Rivers speak about the incident)
Rivers' detainment was a ridiculous spectacle: "We know you can't make security exceptions for someone just because they're a celebrity," says Dan Amira at New York Magazine, but "come on!" Rivers is "the least likely terrorist ever." Then again, if al Qaeda somehow managed to enlist Rivers — who is the total opposite of the Islamic fundamentalist profile — it'd be nothing short of "diabolically genius."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Nutcracker: English National Ballet's reboot restores 'festive sparkle'The Week Recommends Long-overdue revamp of Tchaikovsky's ballet is 'fun, cohesive and astoundingly pretty'
-
Congress reaches spending deal to avert shutdownSpeed Read The bill would fund the government through March 14, 2025
-
Today's political cartoons - December 18, 2024Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - thoughts and prayers, pound of flesh, and more
