Former Australian Test opener Michael Slater was asked to leave a Qantas flight from Sydney to Wagga on Sunday after a heated argument involving two women.
Macquarie Radio digital content producer Nick Fergus told Ray Hadley on 2GB, Slater was removed after an argument with two female friends got outof hand after they boarded a 74-seater plane at the domestic airport around 3pm.
"He's been involved in an extremely heated argument — this has been described as not a run of the mill argument — it was yelling, it was swearing and it was only getting worse as they moved to their seats," Fergus said.
"What we're told by witnesses is Michael removed himself from the situation and went to the bathrooms of the plane.
"As they were doing the safety briefings he remained in the bathroom. Crews repeatedly asked him to come out and he refused.
"At that point the plane couldn't take off and it was being delayed further and further and crew were forced to call airport security who boarded the plane."
Photos have reportedly emerged of Slater being spoken to by airline officials after he was kicked off a Qantas flight at Sydney airport.
Photos published by The Daily Mail show Slater on the tarmac at Sydney's domestic airport surrounded by a number of people.
The report claims Slater was questioned by officials after leaving the flight.
Photos have emerged of the dramatic moment Australian cricket legend Michael Slater was kicked off a plane following an argument with two female friends while boarding https://t.co/AFvGfz3KJg
— Daily Mail Australia (@DailyMailAU) May 21, 2019
Slater issued a statement to Macquarie Radio which read: "I did have an argument with two friends while boarding a flight to Wagga and I apologise for the inconvenience this caused other passengers on the flight".
Media reporter Peter Ford said Slater's management is disputing that he locked himself in the toilet.
But he engaged in some unusual activity on social media in the wake of the incident, posting four photographs to his Instagram account of a woman, believed to be his girlfriend, before deleting them all.
"It's not like him to share that sort of private stuff on Instagram," Ford said.
Slater, 49, has faced recent conjecture over his commentary career after a shake-up of the cricket broadcast rights is seeing him split time with long-time home Channel 9 and new rightsholder Channel 7.
Michael Slater apologised for the "inconvenience he caused." Photo / Getty
It was reported Channel 7 was planning to revise its relationship with the former batsman after just one summer amid rumours of erratic behaviour.
"There had been issues with dealing with him in the work place," Ford said. "I'm told none of it really showed on air, but there were mood swings taking place off air that were of concern to people who were working with him."
"Michael Slater has something wrong going on in his life that is causing him to behave in ways that are of concern," Ford added.
Channel 7 has denied making a decision on Slater's future, saying the make-up of its team — which is set to include new addition Brendon McCullum — wouldn't be settled until spring.
