Selma Blair Apologizes After Flight Arrest
Actress Selma Blair apologized on Instagram for an October in-flight incident on a Delta flight from Los Angeles to New York, where she faces two assault charges and pleaded not guilty.
Newsnibs Staff
- 2026-10-31
- Updated 5:06 AM UTC
Selma Blair apologized on Friday in a video on Instagram for an October incident on a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York. She has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, and her next court date is January 19, 2027.
Blair, 54, was arrested by Port Authority police at John F. Kennedy International Airport after the flight landed in mid-October. Prosecutors allege she attacked two flight attendants, biting one, and tried to open the plane's doors in flight. She is also accused of kicking a police officer in the face, neck and chest, and of kicking a nurse in the chest at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center while she was detained. Court documents describe substantial swelling to the officer. Law enforcement officials said she was separately served an FBI summons on one assault charge. She was released on bail after her arraignment.
In the video, Blair said her attorneys had advised her not to speak publicly because of the legal case, but that she wanted to. She said she takes the matter "very seriously." She said she "never intended to hurt or frighten anyone," and she apologized to "the people that I disappointed, that I hurt, that I frightened, alarmed." She thanked supporters and spoke of her son and her dog, Scout, and said she is focusing on her health and her son.
Her account of the flight differs from the prosecution's. Her attorney, Shawn Barnes, told the court she had missed several doses of "a powerful medication that controls severe neurological symptoms" and hit her head on a bulkhead, leaving her in a state of "severe confusion and disorientation." Barnes cited her multiple sclerosis and Parkinsonism diagnoses. Blair's representatives told People that reports she tried to open an aircraft door are wrong and that she suffered a medical emergency. Accounts of which flight attendant was punched, struck or bitten also vary. One flight attendant was reportedly hospitalized.
Blair revealed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018. Her spokesperson called rumors about the condition "outrageous" and said that "what Selma has been able to do physically in the years since is nothing short of a miracle."
Delta confirmed that law enforcement responded to the incident and said it has "zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behavior."
Photo by D YQ on Unsplash
