Did being a Vine celebrity get Jerome Jarre out of trouble with the FBI? It definitely didn’t hurt.
Jarre was detained after filming a Vine on an American Airlines aircraft that involved him emerging from a bathroom in a Speedo and an inflatable duck. According to Jarre, who has 7.5 million followers on the shortform video app, one cabin crew member on his flight headed toward Miami from Mexico City took offense and alerted officials on the ground about his behavior with the threat of arrest.
Obviously, Jarre livetweeted the whole thing from the airplane and got fans to start a trending topic about his situation before he was detained.
PLEASE HELP ME ⚠️🚨 TWEET #AmericanAirlinesCHILLOUT& RT PEOPLE!! pic.twitter.com/xcWPcKrJV3
— JEROME JARRE (@jeromejarre) October 28, 2014JUST LANDED. ABOUT TO BE ARRESTED. PLEASE TWEET & RT #AmericanAirlinesCHILLOUT😓 pic.twitter.com/HGHJNesp9r
— JEROME JARRE (@jeromejarre) October 28, 2014COPS ARE ENTERING THE FLIGHT 😓
— JEROME JARRE (@jeromejarre) October 29, 2014I AM FREE!!!! YOU ALL ARE THE BEST FRIENDS IN THE WORKD 💪 pic.twitter.com/EvARQVYMK5
— JEROME JARRE (@jeromejarre) October 29, 2014Jarre was detained by FBI agents who boarded the plane upon landing, but ultimately released because, as Jarre told Betabeat, he didn’t do anything illegal.
“They were very professional and good people, and they quickly realized that American Airlines [had] overreacted, and that I didn’t have any other intention than making people laugh,” he told the site.
Jarre continued on to his final destination of Brazil. Betabeat also contacted American Airlines, who took a humorous approach to the incident in their official statement, indicating that they are not pressing charges: “Speedos look good on the beach, but no one likes to see them dancing down the aisle at 35,000 feet.”
H/T Beatbeat | Screengrab via Jerome Jarre/Twitter