Koffee ‘Fine Now’ After Altercation On An American Airlines Flight

Grammy winner Koffee was released on Thursday afternoon after being questioned by US immigration authorities regarding her alleged involvement in an altercation during an American Airlines flight, from the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston to Miami, earlier in the day.

“She is now fine,” Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange told DancehallMag.

Another source said that Koffee had “been released after being interviewed and was out of the airport and on her way to Texas.”

According to Radio Jamaica, Koffee, whose given name is Mikayla Simpson, allegedly attempted to use the restroom in first class, despite being seated in economy and was denied entry by a flight attendant. 

There was an ensuing altercation between the Pull Up artist and the flight attendant, which resulted in the plane’s pilot having to “circle” as the purser and other flight attendants attempted to quash the “situation with Koffee.”

TVJ’s E-Prime also reported eyewitnesses as saying that Koffee, while acting in a boisterous manner, had refused to take her seat in keeping with flight regulations.  

The report stated that due to the confrontation, the flight landed later than scheduled at the Miami International Airport at 2:10 p.m., two hours after it left Palisadoes.

While passengers aboard the flight were allowed to disembark the airplane, Koffee was reportedly summoned for an interview by authorities at the airport. 

Jamaicans gathered on social media to voice their opinions on the matter.

Many of them claimed Koffee was in the wrong, and was “rising and boasting,” based on the initial reports.

“You can’t force entry into the first class cabin when you are seated in economy. There is a reason why you pay more to travel first class,” one woman declared, while one man jeeringly noted: “The moral of the store is, if you want to use the first class restroom, buy a first class ticket…she figet she was in economy 😂😂😂😂”.

Other commenters rose to Koffee’s defense, claiming that she does not appear to be someone who would behave boisterous or foppish.

“Nothing going to judge yet maybe she had to go real bad and the other was being use ,just maybe,” one woman said.

“I don’t know Koffee personally but from I have been following her from the beginning I never see her as a person who would display this attitude, I was not there so I will want to hear what she have to say if she says anything because she do not chat, chat about everything. An incident happen we do not know the circumstances but we ready to bring her personal life into it and most of us don’t know anything about the young woman. CHILL PEOPLE,” firestock_joyce added.

Others berated commenters for rushing to conclusions about Koffee, pointing out that nobody has heard her side of the story.

“The headline says one thing, and the comments are putting knife in koffee without the full story social media, social media. awww and not one of these comments said that they were on the flight. You all love jump before you all can walk,” latty32 said.

“With the poor journalism reputation, I would not pass any judgment on koffee until she do a official interview to tell her side of the story. But some are just so trigger happy without a gun,” dice_1876 said.

Others decried the denial of passengers from using the bathroom in first class even if it is the closest one to them, claiming it was unreasonable.

“Dem always a do this sh*t….if u seated close to first class and the bathroom is right there …them telling u to use the one way down in the middle a the plane…..kmt,” one man said.

The Toast singer is expected back in Florida this weekend where she will grace the stage at the Reggae Rise Up Festival with Damian Marley, Arise Roots and others at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg on March 18th.

Koffee earned the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2020 for her Rapture EP, becoming the first woman and the youngest person to take home that award.

Her debut Gifted was the best-selling album by a Jamaican artist, to be released in 2022. It was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards.