Robert O’Neill, an ex-Navy SEAL who participated in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has been banned from Delta Air Lines.
During a flight on Wednesday (August 19), O'Neill, 44, posted a mask-less selfie taken from the plane to Twitter. He captioned the photo "I'm not a p***y." O'Neill's story garnered attention on Thursday (August 20) when he once again took to Twitter to share news of his lifetime ban. “I just got banned from [Delta] for posting a picture. Wow,” he wrote.
After his tweets went viral, O'Neill was accused of mocking the only other person visible in his selfie-- an elderly man wearing a mask and a US Marine Corps hat. “This was not a dig at the Marine behind me. I love Marines," he tweeted again. O'Neill eventually deleted his posts at the urging of his wife, claiming they were "a joke." He then claimed to always wear a mask when out in public and that his mask was on his lap when he took the selfie.
These statements, however, contradict earlier anti-mask and anti-quarantine messages O'Neill shared on social media earlier this year. According to The Daily Mail, in July O'Neill tweeted "they can't make you wear masks. They can't make you take your temperature. They can't make you quarantine. Wise up."
Delta confirmed O'Neill is no longer allowed to fly their airline in the future, as well. “Part of every customer’s commitment prior to traveling on Delta is the requirement to acknowledge our updated travel policies, which includes wearing a mask,” the airline said in a statement. “Failure to comply with our mask-wearing mandate can result in losing the ability to fly Delta in the future.”
Photo: Getty