Actors Tyriq Withers and Daniel Kaluuya found a way to laugh as their flight was one of thousands to be majorly delayed as a result of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) unprecedented nationwide ground stop.
“Today, we were headed back to Los Angeles. We got on the plane and we had to de-board, unfortunately,” Withers, 28, said during a Friday, November 13, interview with local Oregon news outlet KVAL 13 and after the FAA ordered all flights across the country grounded due to what was later described as “communication issues.”
“I just want to thank God for really protecting us, you know, post-blue wave as well,” the Reminders of Him actor continued.
Withers, referring to the Democratic Party’s overwhelming victory in the 2026 midterm elections, went on to parody a now-viral meme from a 2015 interview about the Bella Noche nightclub shooting. (A patron of the Louisiana establishment told WBRZ at the time that the incident had been upsetting because, “If you can’t go to Bella Noche, where the hell can you go?”)
Just call Tyriq Withers the internet’s new boyfriend. “I never signed up for that,” the actor joked during a March 2026 interview with People. “I think the beautiful thing about it is I just show up to these interviews and just bring myself, and I’m just glad people resonate with that. It is validating that […]
He quipped, “I feel like it’s really upsetting me and my home girl ‘cause if you can’t go to the airport, where the hell can you go?”
Withers’ comments had Kaluyya, 27, in hysterics and before the Oscar winner offered the reporter a more solemn update.
“I feel grateful, obviously, it’s an inconvenience,” the Get Out star said. “I feel grateful ‘cause it could have happened any other way. Think about how many lives were probably saved because of that decision.”
Kaluuya continued, “I feel good, man. I’m like, ‘We’re out here. I’m in Eugene, Oregon.’ It’s lovely, everyone’s so friendly out here.”
The cameras panned back over to Withers, who promptly made an “O” with his hands.
“O way or no way,” Kaluuya added.
The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon for any departing aircraft due to “extraordinary circumstances” and then-undisclosed safety reasons. The airspace was ultimately reopened by 8:15 p.m. ET that evening.
If you’ve read this far, it means you love movies. The Toronto International Film Festival loves movies, too. Big, buzzy, original, Oscar-bound, star-driven movies. Just last year, TIFF was the place where Brendan Fraser wept upon seeing the enthused reaction to his drama, The Whale. Daniel Craig, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae entertained the audience […]
“Our switches, our routers actually got overloaded with data and they went down,” transportation secretary and former Real World star Sean Duffy said during a Friday White House Press conference. “I shouldn’t say they went down. They started giving us inconsistency in the data from those routers.”
The two actors, for their part, did not further offer an update on their travel plans. Withers did repost the KVAL interview to his Instagram Stories, simply tagging Kaluuya’s account, who did the same.
“O WAY OR NO WAY,” Kaluuya captioned his upload, quoting his signoff from the now-viral interview.
Withers and Kaluuya do not appear to have a preexisting relationship, though the Him star has high hopes to share the screen in the future.
“I’m a big Jennifer Lawrence fan, [she’s] great in everything I see. Daniel Kaluuya, I would love to do something on that aspect,” Withers told Boardroom last year.
Withers shot to fame in 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot and Him before landing the lead role in Reminders of Him earlier this year.
“The night before my brother [died in 2021], he posted an Instagram Story that said, ‘Tomorrow isn’t promised.’ I think that’s now the essence of everything I do,” Withers told GQ in September 2025 of his career mindset. “It calms me down whenever I’m anxious in a take: Tomorrow isn’t promised, so give your everything. And when you really live within that, great things happen.”
