Baseball Player Sparks Debate After Airline Makes Pregnant Wife Clean Up After Kids On Plane

Toronto Blue Jays baseball player Anthony Bass just sparked a debate to end all debates on Twitter. Should parents clean up their children’s mess on planes, or leave it for flight attendants? The majority of people seem to side with flight attendants, saying parents should be 100% responsible for their children’s behavior. Still, the debate is a spicy one.

Bass landed himself in Twitter controversy when he posted about United Airlines making his 22-week pregnant wife Sydney Rae Bass get on “hands and knees” to clean up their daughter’s popcorn mess on a plane. Interestingly enough, his wife is actually singer Jessie James Decker’s sister — and the star also posted about the incident on her own socials (more on that soon). Bass explained his wife was traveling with their 5-year-old and 2-year-old, questioning, “Are you kidding me?!?!” And yes, the baseball player received major backlash.

The Blue Jays player is under fire for complaining about an airline making his pregnant wife clean up their child’s mess

Bass posted his controversial tweet on Sunday, accompanied by a photo of his daughter with popcorn underneath her chair. Meanwhile, his wife’s sister Jessie James Decker posted an Instagram Story also complaining about the incident. As you can see in a screenshot by a Twitter user, the “I Still Love You” singer wrote: “My sister @sydneyraebass… is five months pregnant, high risk, and also traveling alone with her two small children.”

The singer-influencer continued, “[Her daughter] accidentally spilled some popcorn in the aisle and the flight attendant came up to Sydney with a trash bag, and a wet wipe, telling her the captain wants Syd to clean up every drop.”

While some Twitter users called the narrative “exaggerative,” Decker described how her “poor sister” got on “hands and knees” and “cried” as she cleaned the mess. She said that her sister felt “humiliated and exhausted” while “everyone else” on the plane watched. She ironically finished her message with, “Way to go United [Airlines].”

Many social media users quickly defended the flight attendant, but Decker didn’t back down. After picking up her sister and nieces from the airport, she posted, “‘Grabbed my sis and the popcorn hazard… Yes, that’s what the flight attendant told my sister, the popcorn in the aisle is a safety hazard.”

Bass later told his Twitter followers that the airline supplied the popcorn, “not [his] wife.”

The family probably didn’t expect the social media backlash that ensued after their complaint

While Bass, his wife, and Decker seemed to think they were really doing something with their social media complaints — people are not having it. In fact, the amount of negative backlash they’ve received on Twitter and Instagram seems to greatly outweigh anyone agreeing with them.

Bass’s tweet has gotten an insane 78 million views, and countless replies. One look at the thread replies shows just how many people are siding with the flight attendant. For one, a user received more than 50,000 likes on this reply: “Just because you’re rich doesn’t mean everyone is your servant. I hope this helps.”

Another questioned, “Genuinely curious who should clean up the mess your 2 year old made?” to which Bass replied, “The cleaning crew.”

Yet another user tweeted back, “’My wife had to be a parent!’ That’s you right now,” while tons of others replied something along the lines of: “Ohh no your wife had to clean up after the mess your kids made lol what a Greek tragedy.” Another asserted, “I have three kids, just flew coach 12 hours, and was able to clean up after them — for every mess. It’s called parenting.”

In short, it’s much more difficult to find positive, supportive tweets towards Bass’s wife’s situation. Still, one person tweeted, “I think it’s disgusting that the stewardess made a pregnant woman clean up a mess if they’re going to supply popcorn on the airplane be ready for messes to clean up if you don’t like it, don’t serve popcorn.”

The debate is still going on — and now people are focusing on the flight attendant

Other tweets are zeroing-in on the flight attendant instead, actually saying she may in fact deserve a raise for her request. One person tweeted to United Airlines, “The fact that the flight attendant had the guts to make the passenger clean up their own MESS kinda makes me wanna fly United more.”

Still, in that same thread, another user isn’t so convinced. They wrote, “The point of the matter is SHE’S 22 weeks PREGNANT. Let’s try understanding the ENTIRE situation and showing compassion to a woman who was probably honestly trying her best, is by herself, and extra hormonal. Plus what’s her health status? Was she able to bend over this way?”

While the family hasn’t officially responded to the controversy, the baseball player tweeted that “United Airlines is taking care of matters with the flight attendant internally.”

Meanwhile, his wife Sydney Rae Bass simply responded by sort of trolling the situation a bit. The influencer posted a photo of her daughter holding a bag of popcorn— and it seems like she’s leaving it at that.

Where do you land on the debate?