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The TSA Destroyed The Piano Of The World's Most Famous Pianist
When the TSA received world-famous pianist Krystian Zimerman's custom Steinway grand piano at JFK in 2002, they detained it because the glue smelled like a bomb to them. Rather than checking with the owner, or doing literally any research to determine whether the musical genius who owned it lived a double life as a terrorist, they just demolished the piano.
For the next four years, Zimerman only brought the parts of a piano when he traveled to the U.S., and had it assembled before concerts. But in 2006, he figured that lightning wouldn't strike twice and decided to push his luck. The TSA again detained his piano, but at least this time, they didn't destroy it. They just held it for five days. It took them that long to figure out that the same world-class musician who didn't bomb them in 2002 was also not trying to bomb them now. After all, what harm did it do? Just completely ruined his tour schedule. No biggie.
Before all this, Zimerman didn't have much to say about U.S. foreign policy, but after these debacles, he's become an outspoken critic. He even refuses to play in the United States now. We're not saying the TSA radicalized this generation's Mozart, but we're also not not saying that.
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