Robert O’Neill, Navy SEAL Credited With Killing Bin Laden, Banned From Delta For Violating Mask Policy

Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden, said he was banned from Delta on Thursday, a day after he posted a photo of himself going maskless on a flight.

“I just got banned from @Delta for posting a picture,” the former SEAL turned author and Fox News regular tweeted. “Wow.”

I just got banned from @Delta for posting a picture. Wow.

— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) August 20, 2020

That came a day after O’Neill posted a photo of himself refusing to wear a mask on a flight. “I’m not a pussy,” the former SEAL Team Six member wrote in the caption. In the background, a man wearing a Marines hat could be seen wearing a mask. Delta customers and staffers are required to wear a face mask on flights.

O’Neill eventually deleted the photo — or, his wife did, as he claimed in a subsequent tweet.

I didn’t delete my tweet. My wife did.

— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) August 19, 2020

That wasn’t before the New York Post reached out to Delta for comment. The airline said it was reviewing the incident.

“We’re aware of this customer’s tweet and are reviewing this event. All customers who don’t comply with our mask-wearing requirement risk losing their ability to fly Delta in the future,” a Delta rep told the Post. “Medical research tells us that wearing a mask is one of the most effective ways to reduce the COVID-19 infection rate,” she added.

Hours after that Post report was published, O’Neill tweeted that he had been banned from the airline.

O’Neill also fired back at criticism of his tweet on the platform, stating that he did not mean the photo as an attack on the man in the Marines hat behind him, but as a joke.

I do wear a mask, @Alyssa_Milano … this attempt at a joke did NOT go over well… https://t.co/LgQR6UzN0d

— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) August 19, 2020

There are also a few taunts of his critics, which includes an odd tweet that can only be described as Covid-baiting:

I shook thousands of hands and gave thousands of hugs this week. I flew on some planes. I’ll be alive next week.

— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) August 19, 2020

Delta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Correction: This post was updated to note the dispute over whether O’Neill was the SEAL who killed Bin Laden.