Security agents at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Sunday forced a popular Sikh comedian to remove his turban and walk in public without it, a violation of his religion.
Toronto’s Jasmeet Singh, also known as a YouTube personality Jus Reign, performed at UC Berkeley over the weekend. Before flying out of SFO on Sunday, he says agents from Covenant Aviation Security required him to take off his turban for an inspection in a private screening room.
After sending Singh’s turban through an X-ray machine, the TSA agents reportedly did not provide him with a mirror to help him put it on properly. Instead, he was forced to walk through the terminal to a private bathroom without the head gear his religion requires him to wear in public at all times.
As of Tuesday, the TSA had yet to release a statement regarding the incident. But as of 2010, airplane passengers are not required by security to remove their turbans if removing them makes them uncomfortable, according to previous reports.
Singh says he travels by airplane at least twice a month and has never been asked before to remove his turban.
In 2012, the Sikh Coalition won a concession from the Department of Homeland Security, that it would provide mirrors in screening rooms all over the country.
As of Tuesday, the TSA, who contracts with Covenant Aviation Security. has yet to receive a formal complaint from Singh, according to reports.
