'It's Embarrassing': Airport Security Forced YouTube Star JusReign to Remove His Turban

YouTube sensation Jasmeet Singh is hammering home a message after he went public with an "embarrassing ordeal" that forced him to remove his turban at a San Francisco airport.

Singh, better known as JusReign, says Transportation Security Administration officials put him through the gauntlet of airport screening, and then asked him to remove his turban.

"A turban is not a shoe, and it's not a hat," he said in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning.

It's the second time in a matter of weeks that an incident has occurred over a turban at an airport: Sikh actor Waris Ahluwalia was barred from an AeroMexico plane because he refused to take off his turban.

hey dude a shoe is not a turban. a hat is not a turban either. there's a far greater cultural significance behind it — Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 23, 2016

In the case of Singh, he had already gone through a body scan, and had a metal detector wand survey the turban when TSA officials pulled him aside and told him he had to remove his turban to have it checked further.

At first he protested. But the manager insisted: if he wanted to catch his flight, he had to comply. Singh wanted to get home to Canada, so he cooperated with officials, removed the item in a private screening room, where it was placed in a bin and run through an X-Ray.

When the article was returned to him, he was told he'd have to walk across the terminal, to a public bathroom, to use a mirror.

"It's an embarrassing ordeal, luckily it happened to someone like me," Singh told CBC. "I've had videos on my YouTube where I've shown how to tie a turban, so my hair's been shown, so I'm comfortable in that skin. But there's a lot of people who aren't and they value the turban very highly. I remember Waris Ahluwalia saying something similar, it's like asking somebody to remove their underwear in public. It's the same when it comes to the turban."

Singh, who wrote about the entire airport incident on Twitter, observed "that same tension and that same paranoia that happened directly after 9/11 seems to be stemming up again.

"I know a lot of friends that don't even wear turbans in the airport, just to avoid this whole ordeal," he said. "That's not something that anybody should have to deal with."

so the — Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

and naturally I'm like nah I really don't wanna do that since I got a flight to catch, but the manager intervenes and says I have to

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

so I get into the private screening and take it off and they body search me and put my turban through another X-ray machine because 'safety'

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

after finding absolutely nothing wrong because a turban is just cloth and the whole thing is stupid I ask for a mirror to tie it back again

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

after finding absolutely nothing wrong because a turban is just cloth and the whole thing is stupid I ask for a mirror to tie it back again

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

the agent tells me there are no mirrors and that I can just walk down the terminal to the nearest restroom ????????????

without my turban on ????????????

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

I know dudes that don't even wear turbans to airports anymore because they have to deal with this bullshit but I choose to cuz i look swanky

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

FAM WHAT WAS THE POINT IN TAKING ME TO THE PRIVATE ROOM IF U JUST TELL ME TO WALK OUT TO THE NEAREST RESTROOM TO PUT IT BACK ON AGAIN

— Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016

it's just super annoying having to deal with this and also — Jasmeet Singh (@JusReign)February 22, 2016