Quincy Brown shared a recent unpleasant experience with a JetBlue pilot. He began the story with a single tweet and little details. He wrote, “What a fakking flight smh @jetblue y’all pilot out of pocket for putting his hands on me.” Hours after the tweet,
Quincy released a video explaining what happened with the pilot, whom he identified as Todd Papesh with a photo of his LinkedIn.
“The pilot put his hands on me. Why? Because my bag, which fits in my pocket damn near, they claimed it didn’t fit,” Quincy said. “My assistant had my bag. I was on the plane already. They wouldn’t let him bring it on. He gets on the plane. I let him know, “I need my bag.”
Interaction With Pilot
At this point, Quincy said he lets his assistant know that’s not a bag that can be checked. According to the actor, the bag contained personal items such as his jewelry and medications. He said he wasn’t traveling with anything in his pockets as it was all stored in the alleged prohibited bag. Quincy continued detailing his story in the nearly two-minutes-long clip.
“The pilot comes with my bag, tells me to get my f**king diabetic medication out. First of all, it’s anxiety medication,” Quincy said. “Not that. He looks at me and says ‘you’re not taking this bag on the plane.’ I said ‘yes I am.’ He said ‘no you’re not,’ grabs me and drags me on the jet bridge.”
Then, Quincy said he pulled his phone out to record. He also said he didn’t get physical (“knock him out”) with the pilot.
“Everything was just uncalled for,” Quincy said. “I never had no pilot put no hands on me. Like I don’t know what you went through before that. I don’t care, but the severity of me just trying to get my bag, for my personal belongings became a situation to where the pilot put his hands on me.”
The video clips ends with Quincy recording himself on the jet bridge speaking to airline officials. At the time of publication, JetBlue hadn’t publicly responded to the situation.
Cassandra SantiagoCassandra Santiago is a multimedia journalist, editor, and editorial strategist with over a decade of experience shaping conversations across arts, entertainment, culture, and global news. A graduate of the University of Iowa, she has built a cross-platform career spanning newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital media. She joined The Shade Room five years ago and currently serves as a Senior Editor, where she leads editorial direction, oversees exclusive coverage, and trains and edits a team of writers. Cassandra has played a key role in developing high-impact content and editorial strategies for an audience of more than 30 million, contributing to platform growth, engagement, and monetization across multiple channels. In addition to her leadership role, she remains a daily contributor, with her articles generating more than 41 million views since 2023. Beyond The Shade Room, Cassandra offers freelance social media strategy services, speaks on the influence and impact of Black media at public panels, and owns Did It For You, an event design company in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. She is Poynter Institute–certified and was named to the DMV’s 35 Under 35 list in 2024.
