Puddle of Mudd singer fought w/ stewardess, forced plane to make emergency landing


We’ve heard plenty of stories of celebrities arguing with flight attendants, but this is the first one I can remember in which someone has forced a plane to make an emergency landing. You might know Puddle of Mudd from their early 2000s hits Blurry and She Hates Me (which sounded like a cheap knockoff of that Offspring song Self Esteem to me, but that’s a different band.) Now their lead singer, Wes Scantlin, will be forever known as the guy who got so drunk and argumentative on a plane that the pilot made an emergency landing. I feel for all those other passengers. Some of them probably missed connecting flights and important business meetings thanks to this wasted a*hole.

Puddle of Mudd singer Wes Scantlin was just arrested at an Austin, TX airport for allegedly becoming drunkenly combative with a flight attendant while in the air — a rep for the Austin PD tells TMZ.

According to the Austin PD, Scantlin got into a verbal argument with a flight attendant over alcohol. It’s unclear exactly what provoked the argument, but a source with airport security says Scantlin was upset because the flight crew wouldn’t sell him booze.

Scantlin’s flight was originally bound for L.A. but was re-routed to Bergstrom International Airport in Austin for an emergency stop, where Scantlin was booted from the plane.

A rep for the Austin PD tells us, Scantlin was arrested and booked for public intoxication, but he could also later face federal charges of interfering with a flight crew.

FYI — Scantlin pled “guilty” to felony cocaine possession in July, but the judge agreed to clear his record in 18 months so long as Scantlin obeys all laws … a condition Scantlin may just have violated.

Bottom line — if Scantlin actually did cause a mid-air ruckus he could face prison time for the cocaine charge, as well as for public intoxication and interfering with a flight crew.

[From TMZ]

I go on a lot of international flights, and after a couple of layovers, toward the end of the trip, I get really punchy because I’ve been up for almost a full day at that point. (If it’s a day flight, I try to avoid those.) I’ve dealt with delays of several hours thanks to how incompetent and poorly run United is in particular, but I strive to keep my air rage controlled other than occasional outbursts of bitchiness, which is my right as a consumer. That usually doesn’t come out unless they’ve lost my damn luggage, which happened to me during my last trip. It’s one thing to tell someone off when you’re safely on the ground, it’s another to fight so hard with a stewardess that the plane has to go off course and inconvenience everyone. This makes me wonder: why didn’t they just restrain this tool and head toward their destination? Wasn’t there an air marshall on board who could have slapped some plastic handcuffs on him and restrained him until they got to L.A? Scantlin must have put up one hell of a flight.

These photos are from 2010 and 2012. I guess Scantlin also dated/dates Rachel Hunter, as I’ve seen photos of him with her in 2003 and again in 2011, but we don’t have access to those. Photo credit: PRphotos and WENN.com

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23 Responses to “Puddle of Mudd singer fought w/ stewardess, forced plane to make emergency landing”

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  1. beyonce's bump says:

    bau chicka wau wau

  2. MsLDG says:

    I find it hilarious that this is only in the category “drunk”. Not famous enough for their own category xD

  3. DesertRose says:

    ‘She Hates Me’ is actually a rip-off of ‘Summer Loving’ from Grease. I could play the melody on the piano for you and sing either set of lyrics. Don’t know much about them beyond that, but I always thought the sample was funny =)

  4. G says:

    There is not an air marshall on every flight. Actually, rarely will you have one on a flight nowadays. If you are departing out of DCA, those odds go up significantly, though. Also, he must have been extremely out of control. The last thing a crew wants to do is make an emergency landing. Not only is it incredibly inconvinient (I know that is spelled wrong) for the passengers and crew, but the crew has to do all this pesky paperwork. Definitely it is a last resort. I would say that he was incredibly belligerent and the crew felt the safety of everyone onboard was being compromised.

    • Elizabeth says:

      They may not have had a US Marshall on the flight. Or it’s possible the marshall was on board and made the decision to land – who wants to fly a plane when there is raging drunk physically restrained in one of the seats yelling and screaming at everyone? I doubt he would have been a “good boy” especially after being restrained. Clearly the flight attendant cut him off at the bar and he was pissed (poor choice of words?) that the boozy adventure was over. What a loser! Safety first – kick his ass off the plane.

      • Cuddles La Rue says:

        Only the Captain makes the decision whether to land the plane via info he/she gets from the cabin crew. An Air Marshal is not part of the crew, they act independently.

  5. Alexa says:

    Wow – what a bad@ss rock star . . . oops . . . I mean SAD LOSER!

  6. ramona says:

    Absurd behaviour. Someone is drinking to kill the pain of not being relevant in the music world (if he ever was) anymore…

  7. Cathy says:

    Gawd he’s ugly. He also needs to get a haircut. His hair looks like hell.

  8. Jaded says:

    I have zero tolerance for asshats on planes, I’m sure some of the other passengers were telling him to STFU. Last time I was on a long overnight flight to Italy there were 2 women behind me who AFTER the lights went out were having a loud brag-fest about who had been on the best cruise. I finally turned around and said “you know the whole plane doesn’t need to hear your conversation, it’s night-time. Use your inside voices and let people sleep.”

  9. dahlianoir says:

    Isn’t that a federal crime or related to terrorism ? With all the security around air transportation, i think he’s on for some big troubles.

  10. pinchofsalt says:

    More like ‘Puddle of Vom’.

  11. melangie says:

    Just yesterday I read about a couple who had 14 mo twins. As they boarded the plane they handed out goodie bags that had candy and an apology-in-advance-note to all the passengers on their flight. They also offered earplugs to anyone who requested. This guy shoud have handed out taser guns & zip ties to all the passengers as he boarded.

  12. Tamiko says:

    Yeah, shout out to Austin-Bergstrom! I really love rock stars. They really know how to bring the crazy.

  13. KellyinSeattle says:

    They should’ve locked him in one of the bathrooms, where he belongs.

    • Boromir's bytch says:

      Dude better invest in a tour bus because if he’s added to the No Fly list he’s toast. Sounds like he was a wasted mess at his concert the night before this flight.

  14. skuddles says:

    Well he just sounds like a lovely human being… Hope he faces charges over this, or at least a good stiff fine. I had to cut off my share of boozed up bozos back in the day and feared for my safety at times – I was even assaulted once. This sh*thead needs to be taught a lesson.