The Department of Homeland Security has officially denied actress Natasha Lyonne's claim that she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being removed from a flight earlier this week.
A DHS spokesperson stated unequivocally to media outlets: "Neither ICE nor TSA escorted or detained Natasha Lyonne." This statement directly contradicts the actress's account of events following her removal from a Tuesday night red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York City.
According to flight crew reports, Lyonne was escorted off the aircraft after appearing "out of it" and failing to respond to repeated requests from attendants to stow her laptop before takeoff. The incident occurred despite standard pre-flight safety protocols.
Lyonne later addressed the situation on social media platform X, attributing her behavior to having taken the sleep medication Lunesta before boarding. In her posts, she specifically alleged that ICE officials had detained her following the flight removal.
Despite the dramatic airport incident, the "Russian Doll" star managed to reach New York in time for Thursday's premiere of "Lorne," a documentary about longtime "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels. Her appearance at the event proceeded without apparent disruption.
On Friday, Lyonne posted cryptically on X about her current state, writing that she's "grateful and doing pretty good" while pondering whether people genuinely mean it when they ask how someone is doing. The post made no direct reference to the flight incident or DHS's denial of her detainment claims.
The conflicting accounts leave unresolved questions about what exactly transpired between Lyonne's removal from the aircraft and her eventual arrival in New York, with federal authorities now publicly disputing key elements of the actress's narrative.