Burlesque Dancer Maggie McMuffin, Forced To Change Her Shorts For JetBlue Flight

Maggie McMuffin, a burlesque dancer, was forced to purchase a new pair of shorts when a JetBlue Airlines pilot deemed the shorts she was wearing inappropriate for the flight.

JetBlue Forces Outfit Change

McMuffin’s story went viral after her friend Molly McIsaac took to Facebook with a pair of pictures of her outfit. In the photos, McMuffin is shown in a cream-colored sweater emblazoned with a tiger’s head, black and white striped shorts and thigh-high white socks. Though McMuffin was able to wear the ensemble on a previous flight, she was later forced to buy pants that would cover her up more for her flight home.

“This is what [Maggie] was wearing last week when JetBlue told her she was dressed inappropriately and couldn’t board the flight from Boston to Seattle she had paid for. She was connecting in Boston from NYC, also a JetBlue flight – which had no issues with the way she was dressed,” McIsaac wrote. No explanation was given except that the pilot said her clothes would prevent her boarding the plane. The flight lead asked if she had anything else to wear, and told her if she didn’t they could rebook the flight for her.”

“Maggie ended up having to go to another terminal to buy a pair of women’s sleep shorts in XL for ‘proper coverage,'” she added. “Despite contacting JetBlue at length, all they have done to ‘make it right’ is refund her for the swim trunks and give her less than $200 in credit. The company apologized but the pilot did not. They have not offered any explanation for their behavior.”

McIsaac concluded, “Sexism is alive and well in this world. How does what Maggie was wearing effect her ability to fly? It doesn’t. Please share this status. Make this go viral. Maggie did not deserve to be treated like this.”

McMuffin has since explained that she had offered up a few easy solutions to the problem the flight crew was having with her outfit, none of which they would accept. Though the airline did reimburse her for the new shorts she purchased, McMuffin can’t shake the feeling of being body-shamed and slut-shamed by JetBlue.

“I could tie a sweater around my waist,” McMuffin told ABC’s Seattle affiliate, KOMO-TV. “I could get a blanket from you guys, and they said, ‘If you don’t change your clothes, you’re not going to be able to board this flight.’”

McMuffin added, “I would say body-shaming and slut-shaming more than outright sexism, but it is really hard to remove those two things from misogyny.”

JetBlue has stood by the decision of their staff members.

“We support our crew members’ discretion to make these difficult decisions, and we decided to reimburse the customer for the cost of the new shorts and offered a credit for future flight as a goodwill gesture,” the airline said in a statement released to ABC News today.