Actress Joey King posted about a fellow plane passenger who thought she had cancer—and treated her poorly because of it. The 19-year-old actress (who is currently sporting a shaved head for a role) took to Twitter on Sunday, November 18th to share the series of events. King wrote, “Y’all I’m on a plane & this man next to me literally turned to me with his phone in my face & took a photo of me as if I wouldn’t notice & texted his wife that he’s sitting next to a girl who has cancer (just cuz I’m bald) & that hes scared to ‘catch it’…Y R PPL STUPID SUMTIMES”.
She followed up with another tweet (and a very fitting meme), writing, “I read his text over his shoulder it said ‘some bald chick next to me with Fckn cancer coughed and I don’t wanna catch it’…..um ya jokin?”
The Kissing Booth actress recently shaved her head for an upcoming role in The Act, a Hulu true-crime anthology series about Gypsy Rose Blanchard. The film will follow Gypsy Rose (King) as she tries to escape the toxic relationship she has with her mother Dee Dee (Patricia Arquette), who has Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
So, no, rude airplane passenger—not every shaved head signals cancer, nor is cancer remotely contagious or something you should ever be cruel about. As the American Cancer Society notes, “There is no evidence that close contact or things like sex, kissing, touching, sharing meals, or breathing the same air can spread cancer from one person to another.”
Here’s to hoping ignorance isn’t contagious.
