Sandra “Pepa” Denton, half of the rap duo Salt-N-Pepa, was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight traveling from Las Vegas to Nashville after refusing to give up a seat she had purchased.
Denton had bought two seats for additional space due to ongoing pain from a knee injury sustained in a 2018 car crash. She required wheelchair assistance and wore a knee brace. Despite this, a flight attendant informed her that she could not occupy both seats.
The airline offered an extra legroom seat as an alternative, but Denton chose to keep both seats. The situation escalated when “a man arrived and asked Pepa to give him her second seat, claiming he was headed to a funeral.” However, he did not maintain consistency in his story about the funeral.