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The 8 Best Media Meltdowns Over Southwest Airlines’ ‘Let’s Go, Brandon’ Controversy

A Southwest Airlines pilot reportedly said “Let’s go, Brandon,” over an airplane intercom Friday, and at least one journalist literally rushed the cockpit.

SO WHAT

The mainstream media is melting down.

THE CONTROVERSY

The pilot of a Friday morning Southwest flight from Houston to Albuquerque ended his greeting over the public address system with the phrase, an inside joke on the right inspired by a NASCAR broadcast last month, according to an Associated Press reporter on board.

The AP reporter, Colleen Long, reported Sunday that some passengers reacted with “audible gasps” to the quip by the unnamed pilot.

  • Long admitted on Twitter that she had stormed the cockpit in pursuit of comment from the pilot, and “probably sounded insane.”

Southwest Airlines apologized to customers for the incident and said it was launching an internal investigation.

  • “Southwest does not condone Employees sharing their personal political opinions while on the job serving our Customers, and one Employee’s individual perspective should not be interpreted as the viewpoint of Southwest and its collective 54,000 Employees,” the airline said in a statement Sunday.

THE MELTDOWNS

Before and after Southwest’s announcement, over-the-top responses emanated from the left on Twitter, with several members of the media helping to set the tone.

CNN contributor Tristan Snell sent out “literally Hitler” vibes.

CNN analyst Asha Rangappa likened the pilot’s remarks to a profession of support for the Islamic State terrorist group.

HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Date accused the pilot of abiding the “overthrow of American democracy.”

CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart suspected a nefarious conspiracy involving Southwest pilots.

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch declared he would never fly Southwest again.

Education commentator Sari Beth Rosenberg condemned the “Let’s Go, Brandon” meme as a “fascist rallying cry.”

Progressive journalist Aaron Rupar suggested Fox News was complicit.

Hollywood director Peter Ramsey argued this was nothing like liberal activism on the job.

Off Twitter, National Public Radio called the slogan “vulgar.”

  • CNN’s Edward-Issac Dovere said it was “an inside joke telling the president of the United States to perform a sexual act on himself.”
  • On CNN’s “New Day,” anchor John Avalon deemed it “trollish” and “not patriotic.”
  • Washington Post reporters Ashley Parker and Carissa Wolf wrote about anti-Biden “vitriol” a report headlined “Biden’s critics hurl increasingly vulgar taunts.”
  • On CNN’s “New Day,” John Avalon deemed it “trollish” and “not patriotic.”

Meanwhile, conservative commentators mocked the hysteria on the left, with Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro suggesting the mainstream media feared losing control of the narrative.

Dissident liberal journalist Matt Taibbi and others contrasted the media’s condemnations of “Let’s Go, Brandon” with its promotion of crass rhetoric against Donald Trump during his presidency.

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