Natasha Lyonne is setting the record straight—or trying to—in her newest retelling of the events surrounding her Delta flight from L.A. to New York on Thursday.
The Euphoria star now says her trip to New York was delayed because ICE detained her. She wrote in an X post on Friday that she was removed from the flight “because ICE had other plans.”
Lyonne explained, following reports that she appeared disoriented and fell asleep behind her sunglasses while ignoring several flight attendant requests, “I took a Lunesta once seated, to ensure some shut eye on the Delta One red eye flight to NYC.”
“Boarded seamlessly with just a backpack and sneakers, eager for a nap. Plan was to be bushy tailed & beauty rested, as I was meant to head straight to glam for a slot with our beloved @DrewBarrymore, upon landing,” she added.
She would have made it on time, she wrote, had it not been for immigration agents who “detained her instead.”
The New York native did not clarify what role ICE played in her journey. “Sign of the times, I guess,” she concluded, amid Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. She also thanked TSA workers and Delta Airlines, and apologized to passengers who were delayed by the incident.
The Daily Beast has reached out to both Lyonne’s representative and the Department of Homeland Security for clarification.
Lyonne’s somewhat vague explanations come after Page Six reported she was escorted off her originally booked redeye on Thursday, just hours after she appeared at Euphoria‘s season three premiere in L.A. A source claiming to be an eyewitness told the site that Lyonne, disoriented and still wearing the same partially nude ensemble she’d worn on the red carpet, asked a crew member, “Where are we?”
They claim the star was told, “We’re still in L.A. The plane hasn’t gone anywhere.” She was then asked multiple times to fasten her seat belt and close her laptop for takeoff before she was allegedly told, “The plane is not going anywhere until you come off it.” According to that source, Lyonne went to the bathroom and then quietly exited the plane, munching on pretzels on her way out.
Though she missed her time on The Drew Barrymore Show, Lyonne made it to at least one of her planned destinations on Friday, when she appeared on the red carpet for the premiere screening of Lorne, the soon–to-be-released documentary about Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels.
During her posting sprees about the incident, Lyonne also took aim at the sites covering its updates, reposting Variety’s latest X post about the plane story and writing, “Hi, @Variety! The Lorne doc is excellent. Strongly recommend. Incredibly moving, hilarious, and insightful!”
She had a similar attitude for Page Six on Thursday, when she cryptically addressed the news coverage by thanking TSA workers. She added in that post, “Who owns page six/New York Post now again?”
