American Airlines has apologised to two NBA G League players who were kicked off a plane after they were wrongfully accused of stealing blankets by a flight attendant.
Airline spokesman Joshua Freed said on Tuesday Memphis Hustle guard Marquis Teague and forward Trahson Burrell boarded the Sunday flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
But a flight attendant accused them of theft and the players were asked to leave the plane following an argument.
An airline manager apologised to the players and they later flew first class to Sioux Falls, Mr Freed said.
"We take pride in bringing people together, and we know that on this flight we let some of our customers down.
Marquis Teague of the Memphis Hustle handles the ball against South Bay Lakers during an NBA G-League game on December 17, 2017. Source: Getty Images
"Our team at American, along with Envoy Air, is reviewing what happened, and will be reaching out to them."
Hustle assistant coach Darnell Lazare said in a tweet the flight attendant saw two "young black athletes" with blankets from first class and his first comment was "did you steal them?"
"How about you teach people to get the facts first before jumping to conclusions," Lazare tweeted Sunday. Both players and the flight attendant are black.
Sunday's incident comes after chief executive officer Doug Parker told employees last month that American Airlines will implement so-called implicit-bias training.
The NAACP issued a "travel advisory" in October warning African-Americans they could face discrimination when flying on American.
Trahson Burrell of the Memphis Hustle shoots the ball against the Canton Charge on November 15, 2017. Source: Getty Images
The alert followed several high-profile incidents including one involving an organiser of the Women's March who was booted from a flight after a dispute over her seat.
American Airlines pledged to hire an outside firm to review its diversity in hiring and promotion, train all 120,000 employees to counteract implicit bias, create a special team to review passengers' discrimination complaints and improve resolution of employee complaints about bias.
The Memphis Hustle is in the G League, which is the NBA's minor league and was formerly known as the NBA Development League.
Teague played a year at the University of Kentucky before being drafted in the first round of the 2012 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. Burrell played two seasons at the University of Memphis.
