Three stars of a Netflix reality tv show were each fined thousands of dollars for abusing airline cabin crew and refusing to wear a mask on board as they flew back to the United Kingdom after filming.
Too Hot to Handle contestants Matthew Mawhinney, 29, Harry Johnson, 28, and Beaux Greenslade, 23, were arrested after landing at Heathrow Airport on February 7.
The trio had been filming the series on the Turks and Caicos Islands before flying to Miami, where they were seen downing margaritas while they waited for their connecting flight home, the Evening Standard reports.
In a hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court in London on Friday, prosecutor Christelle McCracken told the court that flight attendants Heather Wenn and Sophie Griffiths had been the target of most of the abuse.
When Wenn told Mawhinney he wouldn't be served any more drinks, he told her: "Go and f***ing look up who my mum is… go and get me a drink."
His mother is Patricia Scotland, who served as the Attorney General for England and Wales between 2007 and 2010. She has served as the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth since 2016.
Greenslade, a legal secretary, also became abusive when told she wouldn't be served any more alcohol, telling a flight attendant: "Take my f**king tray away, don't you know I'm a f**king secretary, I will take your job away from you."
Johnson called Wenn a "bitch" when he received a letter from the captain telling him he was also barred from being served further drinks.
Cabin crew on the British Airways flight asked Johnson and Greenslade to tone down their behaviour when they were seen "kissing and behaving intimately" in their seats, the court heard.
The trio then became abusive after they were repeatedly told to put face masks on.
All three each admitted to using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour and for failing to obey the commands of a pilot for refusing to wear a mask.
In a letter to the court, Mawhinney apologised and said the incident was "the most shameful and embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me", the BBC reports.
District Judge Deborah Wright said the trio had "acted with a profound sense of entitlement".
Each was fined £1500, told to pay £500 each to the two flight attendants, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £150 and £85 costs for their abusive behaviour. They were also ordered to pay a further £100 for refusing to put on their masks when told to by the captain, bringing their total fine to £2335 (NZ$4504).
Too Hot to Handle sees contestants compete to find love for a $100,000 prize, but they lose money if they get intimate with each other. Netflix, which streams the reality show, is said to have "frozen" their prize fund following the incident.
