# Steven Slater > Steven Slater is the 2010 JetBlue flight attendant who became a viral folk hero after cursing out passengers over the intercom, grabbing two beers, and deploying the emergency evacuation slide at JFK Airport. Steven Slater is a former JetBlue flight attendant who, on August 9, 2010, cursed out an entire plane full of passengers over the intercom, grabbed two beers from the beverage cart, deployed the emergency evacuation slide, and slid off the aircraft at JFK Airport. His spectacular exit from Flight 1052 turned him into an overnight internet sensation and "working class hero" for millions of frustrated employees worldwide[1], though later reports complicated the heroic narrative considerably[2]. ## Origin On August 9, 2010, JetBlue Flight 1052, a regional Embraer 190 jet carrying 100 passengers, landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport around noon after a flight from Pittsburgh[3]. As the plane taxied to its gate, a female passenger stood up to retrieve her luggage from the overhead compartment before the crew gave permission[9]. Steven Slater, a 38-year-old flight attendant with roughly 20 years of airline experience, told her to sit down. She refused[12]. When Slater reached the passenger as she was pulling down her bag, the luggage struck him in the head[9]. He asked for an apology. She cursed at him instead[12]. What happened next made Slater famous. He grabbed the plane's PA microphone and delivered an expletive-laced farewell. According to his own written statement to the Queens County District Attorney's Office: "To those of you who have shown dignity and respect these last twenty years, thanks for a great ride"[9]. Other accounts quote him as saying: "To the passenger who called me a motherfucker, fuck you. I've been in the business 28 years. I've had it. That's it"[1]. Then he pulled the lever on the emergency evacuation chute at a service exit, grabbed two beers from the galley, and slid down onto the tarmac[12]. He ran to the employee parking lot, drove home to his house on Beach 128th Street in Belle Harbor, Queens, and was arrested there a few hours later[12]. Port Authority police found him at home with his boyfriend[14]. A neighbor reported that Slater "had a smile on his face when the cops brought him out"[12]. - **Platform:** News media, Facebook, Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Steven Slater (subject/participant) - **Date:** 2010 ## Overview The Steven Slater meme centers on the dramatic, beer-fueled exit of a career flight attendant who snapped after a confrontation with a passenger. The incident spawned Facebook fan pages, custom "Free Steven" t-shirts[13], Urban Dictionary entries, Halloween costumes, and widespread cultural commentary about the frustrations of service industry work[10]. "Pulling a Steven Slater" briefly entered the vocabulary as shorthand for quitting your job in the most dramatic fashion imaginable[5]. ## How It Spread The story hit the internet like a bomb. Within hours of Slater's arrest on August 9, he was being called a "working class hero" and an "American hero" across social media[1][4]. Facebook fan pages multiplied rapidly, and The Guardian noted he was "this week's hottest new meme"[10]. The New York Times ran multiple stories: one reporting the basic incident[12], another drawing a historical parallel to William Cimillo, a Bronx bus driver who in 1947 got fed up and drove his bus 1,300 miles to Hollywood, Florida[11]. The Times also set up a "Last Straw Hotline" inviting readers to call in and share their own stories of workplace meltdowns, a direct response to the public identification with Slater's outburst[3]. Custom "Free Steven" t-shirts appeared on sites like CustomInk almost immediately[13]. Urban Dictionary gained multiple entries defining "Steven Slater" as a verb meaning to dramatically quit your job and "going steven slater" as snapping at someone[5]. BuzzFeed crowned him "Steven Slater, American Hero"[1]. The story went international. Germany's Der Spiegel covered the incident extensively, calling Slater a "Volksheld" (folk hero) who impressed "many who would love to quit their own jobs with a bang" (translated from German)[6]. But the backlash arrived within days. The Wall Street Journal published interviews with passengers who painted a very different picture. Marjorie Briskin said Slater had the gash on his head throughout most of the flight and "looked disturbed" at the end[2]. Lauren Dominijanni said Slater was rude from the start, rolling his eyes when she asked for a wipe to clean coffee off her seat, barking: "No! Maybe when we get in the air! I need to take care of myself first, honey!"[2]. A third passenger, Marissa Liebhaber, said she didn't even know anything happened until she got home and her mother saw it on the news[2]. The Week summarized the emerging debate: was he a folk hero or "just a jerk"?[7] Gawker's Max Read questioned the backlash itself, noting that only three witnesses had come forward with this "entirely new angle" and none had actually seen the famous exit, asking if this was "just JetBlue taking some reporters on a ride"[7]. Mediaite's Jon Bershad took a more philosophical stance: "Maybe it doesn't matter. Sometimes the story is more important than the man"[7]. ## How to Use "Steven Slater" is typically used as a reference or metaphor rather than a visual meme template. Common uses include: 1. **As a verb:** "I'm about to pull a Steven Slater" when expressing the fantasy of dramatically quitting a terrible job[5]. 2. **As a reaction reference:** Invoking his name when sharing stories about rude customers, workplace burnout, or service industry frustrations. 3. **As a comparison:** Describing any dramatic exit from a situation. "He went full Steven Slater on that Zoom call." ## Cultural Impact The Steven Slater incident arrived at a specific cultural moment. The 2008 recession was still grinding. Worker dissatisfaction was high. An International Air Transport Association study cited by the Times had found increasing instances of disgruntled passengers and violence on planes, with passengers who refuse to obey safety orders identified as the chief cause[12]. The New York Times's comparison of Slater to William Cimillo, the 1947 bus driver who drove his bus to Florida, placed the incident in a long American tradition of dramatic workplace exits[11]. Cimillo too had become a celebrity, appeared on TV shows, and even had a movie planned (with Elizabeth Taylor) before the project fell apart[11]. The Times noted the moral of Cimillo's story: "You tell somebody a joke the second time, and it's not always so funny"[11]. The Guardian's analysis elevated the story beyond tabloid fodder into genuine social commentary about consumer capitalism and the dehumanization of service workers[10]. The piece argued that Slater's outburst spoke to "a familiar recognition that because of the way our system operates, we, and our interactions with others, are all eventually consumer products"[10]. The New York Times's "Last Straw Hotline" drew a flood of responses from workers eager to share their own near-breaking-point stories, turning one man's meltdown into a national conversation about workplace dignity[3]. ## Fun Facts - When police arrived at Slater's Queens home to arrest him, they found him in bed with his boyfriend. He was smiling as he was led away in handcuffs[14]. - Slater's MySpace page announced: "Steven Slater has visited 22 percent of the countries in the world!"[12] - JetBlue took over 20 minutes to notify Port Authority police about the incident, giving Slater enough time to drive home[12]. - One passenger on the flight, Phil Catelinet, summed up the public mood perfectly: "I wish we could all quit our jobs like that"[14]. - The emergency slide that Slater deployed costs thousands of dollars to replace and can injure or kill ground crew if it deploys without warning[12]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Steven Slater meme? Steven Slater was a JetBlue flight attendant who became an internet sensation in August 2010 after cursing out passengers over the intercom, grabbing two beers, and exiting the plane via the emergency evacuation slide at JFK Airport[1]. His dramatic exit turned him into a symbol of workplace frustration and inspired the phrase "pulling a Steven Slater"[5]. ### Where did the Steven Slater meme come from? The meme originated from a real incident on JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh to New York on August 9, 2010[12]. After a passenger's luggage struck him in the head and she refused to apologize, Slater delivered an expletive-filled speech and slid off the plane[9]. ### What does "Steven Slater" mean? "Steven Slater" is used as shorthand for dramatically quitting a job or snapping under pressure[5]. It represents the universal fantasy of telling off rude customers or bosses and walking away in spectacular fashion[10]. ### How do you use the Steven Slater meme? People typically reference Steven Slater when sharing workplace frustrations, customer service horror stories, or fantasies about quitting dramatically. "I'm about to pull a Steven Slater" is the most common format[5]. ### Is Steven Slater still popular? The meme peaked in August 2010 but entered the cultural lexicon as a reference point for dramatic job exits[4]. As of 2019, Slater was living in Tijuana, Mexico, largely out of the public eye[8]. ### What happened to Steven Slater after the incident? Slater pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor attempted criminal mischief in October 2010[15]. He was sentenced to one year of probation, ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to JetBlue, and required to complete a year of mental health treatment[6]. ### Did Steven Slater really grab beers before sliding down the chute? Yes. Multiple sources confirm that after his intercom tirade, Slater grabbed beers from the galley before deploying the emergency slide and exiting the aircraft[12][9]. ### Why was Steven Slater called a "working class hero"? Slater's defiant exit struck a chord with millions of workers who fantasized about quitting terrible jobs in dramatic fashion[4]. His story arrived during a period of high post-recession frustration, and many people identified with his refusal to tolerate abuse from a customer[10]. ### Did Steven Slater start the fight? That's disputed. The Wall Street Journal reported that multiple passengers said Slater was rude and agitated from the beginning of the flight, suggesting he may have provoked the confrontation[2]. However, other accounts support Slater's version that the passenger struck him with her luggage and refused to apologize[9]. ### What did JetBlue say about Steven Slater? JetBlue suspended Slater from duty and an internal memo from their COO called the emergency slide deployment "as dangerous as a gun," stating that his actions were inexcusable regardless of what provoked them[16]. ### Where is Steven Slater now? As of August 2019, Slater had moved to Tijuana, Mexico. He briefly made news again when friends reported him missing after several days without contact[8]. He had previously expressed interest in writing a book about his flying career and renovating his parents' California home[15]. ## References 1. [Steven Slater, American Hero]() 2. [Steven Slater Backlash]() 3. [Share Your 'Last Straw' Stories - The New York Times]() 4. [Steven Slater - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Epstein didn't kill himself]() 6. [Steven Slater - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [John F. Kennedy International Airport]() 8. [Next Digital - Wikipedia]() 9. [Wütender Flugbegleiter: Steven Slater kommt mit Geldstrafe davon - DER SPIEGEL]() 10. [Does Steven Slater deserve to be a folk hero? | The Week]() 11. [Who Is Steven Slater? New Details On Infamous Ex-JetBlue Flight Attendant Who's Missing In Mexico | YourTango]() 12. [Steven Slater, JetBlue Flight Attendant Out on Bail - ABC News]() 13. [Steven Slater: a rebel in a dehumanising service society | Colin Horgan | The Guardian]() 14. [Aviso de redireccionamiento]() 15. [Leaving a Job in a Bus, Not a Slide - The New York Times]() 16. [Steven Slater Meltdown -- Pleads Guilty and Must Get Mental Help]() 17. [Share Your 'Last Straw' Stories - The New York Times]() 18. [PHOTOS: Awesome Flight Attendant Steven Slater Wearing His Best JetBlue Blues - Queerty]() 19. [Steven Slater Backlash]() 20. [Fed-Up Flight Attendant for Jet Blue Lets Curses Fly, Then Makes Sliding Exit - The New York Times]() 21. [Custom T-shirts - Design Your Own T-Shirts Online - Free Shipping!]() 22. [Steven Slater Ends Flight Attendant Career in Hilarious, Illegal Fashion]() 23. [Wingnut Steven Slater gets year of probation and fine for 2010 JetBlue incident | New York Post]() 24. [JetBlue memo: Steven Slater's slide "as dangerous as a gun" - Gadling]() 25. [News – NBC New York]() 26. [News – NBC New York]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/steven-slater Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library