Hi, all,
I think that if the badge is allowed in the streets then it should be in the aircraft, along with f**k tee shirts and so on. Airlines cannot make their own laws, can they ? Here I consider the message on the badge, not the potential danger from the pin.
What is the reason why the FA asked the pax to remove the badge in the first place ? And did he explain him ?
Maybe some overreaction from the CC ?
Second thing is, I think the passenger should have removed the badge without making all this fuss. An airliner cramped cabin at the beginning of a long haul is not the best place to try to make a point on such a touchy matter.
When reported the incident I guess the captain could not disavow the CC and also had to consider the degraded mood in the cabin right before a critical phase of the flight. He had not choice but to go back at the gate and bump off the trouble maker.
Now I think this same trouble maker has a right to demand explanations to the airline, not because he has been offloaded, but because he may have been requested to remove the badge without any substantial reason.