‘The Bear’ writer Alex O’Keefe removed from train after “white woman” complained about how he was sitting

Alex O’Keefe, a former writer for The Bear, has claimed he was arrested and removed from a train after an “old white woman” complained about how he was sitting.

• READ MORE: ‘The Bear’ season four review: intense kitchen drama returns with an improved menu

According to O’Keefe, he was on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority train from New York bound for Connecticut when the unnamed woman told him to “correct” his sitting position.

The screenwriter claimed that she reported him to the train’s conductor after he refused, and the conductor then called the MTA Police Department.

In a video posted to O’Keefe’s Instagram account, he can be heard saying that he has not done “anything illegal” as police remove him from his seat.

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In the caption, he wrote: “The police told me to leave the train, I refused and asked what was I doing illegally. They said I was disturbing the peace by not leaving the train.

“They pulled me off the train and arrested me without even talking to the Karen who reported the one black person on the train. On the platform, the police detained me and interrogated me.

“Only black folks stayed nearby and recorded the arrest. When I demanded a lawyer and reminded them they didn’t even take a statement from the woman who complained, they eventually released me.”

He added: “This country is growing more psycho by the day. What will you do about it?”

According to an MTA representative (via PEOPLE), the way O’Keefe was sitting was breaking an MTA rule because he had both of his legs stretched across an adjacent seat.

“A conductor reported a passenger occupying two seats had refused to remove his feet from one of the seats,” an MTA statement added. “When MTAPD officers boarded, he refused police direction to exit. Officers told the passenger to depart the train onto the platform, where he would be able to board a following train.”

The MTA went on to say O’Keefe “continued to refuse to exit” and the train was delayed for an additional six minutes. He was then issued a summons for disorderly conduct, a violation, without further incident and allowed to board the next train.

Elsewhere, The Bear was recently officially renewed for a fifth season.

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