Salt-N-Pepa co-founder headlined Las Vegas Strip long before flight snafu

Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight on Monday morning. Maybe not surprisingly, the incident is directly and peripherally related to Las Vegas.

Sandy “Pepa” Denton of the 1990s hit-making rap duo was ordered off a Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Nashville. TMZ originally reported the story.

And, you might or might not recall that Salt-N-Pepa was at the center of “I Love the 90s — The Las Vegas Show,” at Paris Theater. That production led by Denton and Cheryl “Salt” James ran from October through November 2018. Such ’90s music icons as DJ Spinderella, En Vogue, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray, All-4-One, Rob Base and Kid-N-Play rotated into the throwback production.

Pepa resurfaced in celebrity news coverage when telling TMZ she had purchased two seats for her direct Southwest flight from Vegas to Nashville. She explained she has limited movement because of a knee injury she suffered in a 2018 accident on L.A.’s 101 freeway (Pepa sued an Uber driver and three motorists in the chain-reaction incident).

Pepa said she had arranged wheelchair assistance to board the flight. But a passenger who claimed to be flying to a funeral asked for one of the seats Pepa claims to have purchased. She refused.

A flight attendant then interceded and allowed the newly arriving passenger to take the second seat. The Southwest employee reportedly told Pepa she was not allowed the second seat because she was not wearing a cast. The 59-year-old rap star was instead in a knee brace.

Pepa then called an assistant from her seat, and was ordered off the flight. After she deplaned, Pepa told TMZ she was directed out of the cabin because flight attendants thought she was recording from her seat and didn’t feel safe with her on the flight. But Pepa emphasizes she was not recording on the plane.

Now, she was able to reschedule her meeting in Nashville, and Southwest reimbursed her the $2,500 for her two seats. The bad news is she’s SOL for the $300 she paid for the greeter and $500 for the car service she never got to use.

The “90s” production and Salt-N-Pepa reps had originally announced plans to return in January 2019, but never reassembled the production, as the show struggled to sell tickets at the star-crossed venue (hence the recruitment of a shaman in 2023, to help eradicat what entertainment professionals felt was chronic bad energy in the theater).

Salt-N-Pepa returned that year with “The Mix Tape Tour,” headlined by New Kids on the Block and featuring Debbie Gibson, Naughty By Nature and Tiffany. Salt-N-Pepa’s most recent performance in Las Vegas was at Michelob Ultra Arena in May 2022, with NKOTB, Rick Astley and En Vogue.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.