By Katherine Tinsley
10:49am PDT, Jul 9, 2025
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Ronny Chieng celebrated the TSA announcing that one of their most unpopular policies — that travelers must remove their shoes while passing through security — is changing. "I know a lot of people out here are always like, 'Oh, the news is so awful. Everything is terrible. I hate fascism. Do something! Wah, wah, wah!' Well, stop whining, OK, because finally there's some great news for America," he said. "TSA! TSA! TSA! TSA," he cheered with the audience.
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"Yes, the TSA finally got fed up with yelling at people to take their shoes off — just like Asians when white people visit," Ronny Chieng joked. "Just take your shoes off, you barbarians, OK? There is no argument for shoes in the house. There's feces on the sidewalk."
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The policy was first implemented after Richard Reid boarded a flight from Paris to Miami with homemade bombs hidden in his shoes just months after 9/11 in 2001. "Ending this policy is long overdue," Ronny Chieng said. "It's 2025. Terrorists don't crash airplanes anymore, OK? Boeing crashes airplanes."
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Ronny Chieng later noted that many people who have certain travel statuses have already been able to skip the protocol. "The only people this is not good for is elites like me who — and I don't want to brag here — have PreCheck," he said. "What benefits do I still have over you plebs? Because I pay to keep my shoes on. And now, what, everyone else is just keeping their shoes on for free? So what the [BLEEP] am I paying for?"
