T.J. Holmes explained that he had to remain “calm” on a “wild flight” with Amy Robach after a fellow passenger made accusations.
According to Holmes, a woman on their recent flight “accused” him of stealing her phone after it went missing.
At the time, the former ABC Good Morning America and GMA3 anchors said they were in first class traveling to Los Angeles, California, as part of their recent trip to Turks and Caicos.
Holmes explained that he’d left his seat, 5C, to use the restroom, and when he returned, a “little old lady” from seat 1F was standing there and asked if he’d seen a phone in the restroom.
He said that after telling her he hadn’t seen a phone, the woman stepped toward him and gestured, almost as if she was ready to “frisk” him.
“Oh, you don’t have it?” Holmes said the woman asked him.
Holmes said he had to stay ‘calm’ after accusations
In the condensed social media clip, Holmes shared that when he returned to his seat, he didn’t sit in it but sat “on the armrest.”
“Sure enough [she] found her phone in [her] seat somewhere,” Holmes revealed, adding, “And I have to be calm.”
“But that was a wild flight experience,” he said in the Amy & T.J. Podcast teaser clip.
During the podcast episode, Holmes described the woman who accused him of stealing her phone as “very short” with “white, dirty blonde hair.”
“Ma’am, are you telling me that I took your phone?” Holmes said he asked the woman, who said “No” and then ignored him, eventually finding the phone in her seat.
He also mentioned during the podcast that since she’s been with him, Robach has witnessed him being “treated differently” as a Black man in various scenarios they’ve encountered.
“Very differently. I have,” Robach confirmed.
Listeners commented about how the woman’s accusations involved ‘stereotyping’
In the Amy & TJ Podcast Instagram comments, individuals reacted to Holmes’s story about the woman accusing him of stealing her phone. Multiple commenters suggested that stereotyping was a factor in the woman’s accusations.
“Always remember you are still black and THEY think we’re all thieves. Sorry this happened to you but I’m not surprised,” one commenter wrote.
“It doesn’t matter what you do. We are always suspect. It’s ridiculous,” an individual commented.
Another said it’s a “Crazy world we live in” and that it’s good “there are cameras on the plane” to record things.
“Shame on you, 1F woman! So sorry, TJ!” another commenter wrote, referring to the woman’s seat.
Holmes said the flight attendant was “very apologetic” to him over the situation involving the woman confronting him.
“I’m so sorry!” Holmes also said the woman who accused him yelled across the seats to him several times after finding her phone.
“Sorry just doesn’t cut it,” Amy Robach said on the podcast, adding, “It’s something that only certain people would be exposed to. But it was awful.”
A bully should always be reported. He has a history..