Alex O'Keefe, a writer for the hit FX series The Bear, was handcuffed and removed from a Metro-North train in New York after a dispute over how he was sitting. O'Keefe, who is Black, said in an Instagram post that a white woman complained to the conductor about his seating position, leading to police intervention.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said security footage showed O'Keefe with both legs stretched across an adjacent seat, violating train rules. A conductor called police after O'Keefe refused to move his legs. Police briefly held the train at a station in the Bronx around 10:30am and handcuffed O'Keefe when he refused to exit, according to the MTA.
In a video recorded by O'Keefe, he can be heard saying, 'You're going to arrest the one Black dude on the train, because this white woman said she didn't like the way I was sitting.' He repeatedly stated he had done nothing illegal. Officers issued him a summons for disorderly conduct before allowing him to board another train.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber called the incident a simple case of a passenger breaking rules by putting his legs on a seat, adding, 'Just take your feet off the seat. It’s that simple.' O'Keefe, 31, won a Writers Guild award in 2023 as part of The Bear team. He said he was wary of becoming a centre of a culture war.
