Natasha Lyonne Says ICE Agents ‘Detained’ Her After Plane Incident

Natasha Lyonne claimed that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers “detained” her after she was escorted off a recent flight.

Responding to a post from E! News on X, Lyonne shed some light on the reports that she “seemed out of it” while seated in the first-class section of the redeye flight. The actress acknowledged that she had taken Lunesta (a medication used to treat insomnia) to “ensure some shut eye” so she would be “bushy tailed & beauty rested” for an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. 

Lyonne continued, “Was looking forward to seeing Drew & an in depth convo, but I guess ICE had other plans & I was detained instead. Sign of the times, I guess. Thanks for all the love and support. Never had a problem with @Delta or @TSA before. Heart is with our unpaid @TSA workers. Apologies to any travelers who were delayed.”

ICE agents have been deployed at airports around the country, ostensibly to provide extra security amid staff shortages for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) caused by the Department of Homeland Security shutdown. A rep for DHS (which oversees both ICE and TSA) rebuffed Lyonne’s statement, saying, “Neither ICE nor TSA escorted or detained Natasha Lyonne.”

According to an original Page Six report, Lyonne was escorted off the plane after allegedly failing to respond to flight attendants’ orders when they asked her to close her laptop and buckle up. While the aircraft did taxi for takeoff, it ultimately returned to the gate, where staff reportedly helped Lyonne deplane. 

Responding to the initial reports, Lyonne said her “heart is with all the unpaid TSA agents at our airports,” and acknowledged missing her scheduled appearance on Barrymore’s show. She also ultimately did arrive in New York and was spotted Thursday night at the premiere of a new documentary about Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels. 

In another post on Friday, Lyonne seemed to wave off any questions or concerns about how she was doing, encouraging people to rewatch Russian Doll for a reminder that “are you okay” is her “least favorite of all our generic, small talk phrases.”

She continued: “Never know how in depth people really wanna go, so I rarely ask it unless I mean to sit with someone for 6 hours and truly listen to the answer. ‘How are you’ is up there too. Do people really mean it when they ask each other those things? Is anyone ‘okay’? Pretty grateful and doing pretty good. Been surfing a lot. Writing a lot. Seeing theater.”

This story was updated at 6:13 p.m. ET with a statement from a DHS rep.