we're hearing this morning from the man
who pulled the coronavirus prank on that
West jet flight from Toronto to Jamaica
everyone talking about that story this
week how the plan was forced to turn
around and more than 200 people have to
put off the start of their vacations
after the man stood up and announced
mid-flight he'd just come back from
China and he wasn't feeling well well
he's been charged with mischief and now
he's speaking out and apologizing as he
told our Ferrum Murali this video posted
on a Toronto social media site shows
James Potok being escorted off a plane
while being jeered by passengers it's
the aftermath what Potok says was
supposed to be a joke I stood up I said
I just returned from a flight from Hunan
Province I might have said this is the
capital for coronavirus and then I said
I don't feel too well what made you want
to do that well it was it was really
just to create a viral video the West
jet pilot didn't find the joke funny the
crew segregated him as a precaution and
the plane was turned around 240
passengers who were supposed to end
their date in Jamaica ended it here
instead at Toronto's Pearson
International Airport we've allotted to
delay an hour back in Toronto we were
all very frustrated why would you think
that would be funny to make a video like
this I guess it was a shock in our type
of thing
you know being able to think about it
after it's it's definitely something
that's not joked about once I found out
that they were turning the plane around
is when I felt the remorse I felt guilty
so now I'm thinking to myself well I
think I just ruined 250 other people's
traveler's plans so that you know that
that hit me that bothered me if you had
a message for those people what would
that be I am extremely sorry
I'm completely remorseful to everybody
that I I damaged their plans that wasn't
the only flight that had to be cancelled
because of this prank the trip from
Montego Bay back to Toronto the same
plane was supposed to take was also
scraps we reached out to West jet to see
if it planned to take action would only
say the matter is now before the courts
Farah Morelli
CBC News Toronto you heard James Potok
tell a fire in the course of their
conversation that he'd been on a flight
he'd been recently in china's hunan
province well of course the epicenter of
the outbreak is the city of Wuhan which
is in who Bay province so just perhaps
conflating the two but we just want to
sort it out for you not in fact the
right location mentioned there