In a battle of Chebacca vs. the TSA, Chewbacca won. Thanks to the force of Twitter, Peter Mayhew, the Star Wars actor who played the wookie, Chewbacca in the iconic films, was able to keep his light saber cane after the Transportation Security Administration threatened to take it away.
Mayhew was challenged by the TSA as he passed through the Denver Airport on June 3 with his light saber cane. The 7-foot-2 actor had just attended Denver Comic Con and was about to board an American Airlines flight but the TSA gave him a hard time.
Mayhew posted a photo on Twitter on TSA agents holding onto his cane. He took to Twitter and asked his fans to help him out so the TSA wouldn't confiscate the cane.
"Giant man need giant cane... small cane snap like toothpick... besides... my light saber cane is just cool... I would miss it..." Mayhew tweeted.
The word spread around the social media site and Mayhew later tweeted that he was able to keep his cane.
"Magic words to TSA are not "please" or "thank you".. It's "Twitter".. cane released to go home..," he said.
He then retweeted some respondes from fans.
@TheWookieeRoars @TSA Just learned Star Wars lesson #1: "Let the Wookie Win"," Ray Sanders said.
American Airlines also reached out to the actor. He praised the airline while shooting down the TSA. "In Dallas. Thank you to @AmericanAir for checking on me. Problem was all @TSA. I'm a million-miler on American and they are a class act," Mayhew wrote.
Some fans joined in on the fun and tweeted jokes about the TSA.
"@TheWookieeRoars @AmericanAir @TSA that and they didn't want their arms ripped off by a wookie #LetTheWookieWIN," Dane said.
The cane incident wasn't the end of the airport ordeal for Mayhew. After he got his cane back, he wrote "In the caffufel of the cane, zach left his backpack at security. . Hope he makes it back in time for the flight."
It is not clear if Mayhew made his flight on time but he didn't comment on it further.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
