‘Trump is here,’ gays ‘giving him cancer’: Masked man causes chaos, forces emergency landing of New Jersey-bound flight

A plane headed for New Jersey made an unscheduled stop after a disruptive passenger, reportedly wearing more than a dozen face masks, began shouting alarming statements like “Trump is here” and that gay people were “giving him cancer”.

The Sun Country Airlines flight departed Minneapolis for Newark on Friday morning but was diverted and forced to land in Chicago when the man’s behaviour escalated. According to The New York Post, he started shouting, “The plane is going down," prompting crew members to initiate emergency procedures.

Fellow passenger Seth Evans, seated across the aisle from the disruptive passenger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the disruption began as soon as the plane took off. The individual allegedly ranted about being “gang chased” by gay people and screamed that he was being “radiated” and “cooked” by gays.

According to Evans, the man was wearing “no less than 15 masks” over his mouth, perhaps in an attempt to ward off the supposed threats. At one point, he even declared, “Trump is here." However, the bizarre outbursts were not constant. Between rants, the man settled in to play a round of Candy Crush, only to stand up moments later and shout again at full volume.

The situation reached a tipping point when the passenger began making threats about the plane crashing. The crew made the decision to land at Chicago's O’Hare International Airport, where the man was taken into custody by Chicago police and escorted off the plane in handcuffs.

Before the flight resumed its journey to Newark, passengers were questioned by US Marshals.

What did the airline say?

Sun Country Airlines issued a statement following the incident: “The flight landed without incident and the passenger in question was turned over to law enforcement and removed from the aircraft. We appreciate our passengers’ patience during the interruption to their travels,” The Tribune quoted the airline.