• Actor Peter Mayhew uses force of Twitter to  get his cane returned
• Star Wars cast member was returning from  Denver Comic Con

By  Jessica Jerreat

PUBLISHED: 13:58 EST, 8 June  2013 |  UPDATED: 13:59  EST, 8 June 2013

It’s not wise to upset a Wookiee, as airport  staff in Denver found out when they tried to take the Star Wars actor’s walking  cane as he boarded a flight.

Security had mistaken his walking stick,  fashioned to look like a light saber, as a weapon, as Peter Mayhew, 69, prepared  to fly home from a sci-fi convention.

But when the 7ft 2in actor took to Twitter to  complain to his 22,000 followers, staff at Denver airport soon realized you  should always let the Wookiee win.

Grounded: Peter Mayhew, left, waits in a wheelchair  after airport security staff confiscated his walking stick

The frustrating episode was played out on  Twitter as Mayhew, who had been a guest at Denver Comic Con, tried to catch an  American Airlines flight to his home in Boyd, Texas.

‘Won’t allow me through the airport  with me  cane! Giant man need giant cane. Small cane snap like toothpick. Besides, my  lightsaber is just cool. I’d miss it,’ the actor, who played Han Solo’s co-pilot  in the original Star Wars trilogy said.

The British-born actor, who has been  spotted  using a wheelchair at recent sci-fi conventions, is due to have  an operation on  his knee later this year.

He explained there was a delay in the surgery  because the ‘largest replacement knees on the market are a size “6”, but this  Wookiee needs a size “11”,’.

Concerned that he would miss the flight on  Monday, last week, Mayhew pleaded with his followers: ‘@AmericanAir  won’t allow me through the airport with me cane! Can I get a  retweet?’

The farce is strong: Mayhew, who played Harrison Ford’s  sidekick in Star Wars, was stopped at the airport

He was quick to point out on @thewookieroars  however, that it was airport security and not the airline which was causing the  problem.

American Airlines was quick to respond and  check if it could help Mayhew.

When security finally accepted that the light  saber was not so much a weapon as a walking aid, the cane was returned.

Mayhew later tweeted: ‘Magic words to TSA are  not “please” or “thank you”… It’s “Twitter”.. cane released to go  home.’

This prompted one of his followers to tweet:  ‘That and they didn’t want their arms ripped off by a wookiee’.

 

Co-pilot: Harrison Ford with Peter Mayhew, who had his  walking cane customized to look like a light saber

Mayhew, who had gigantism diagnosed when he  was 14, was working in a hospital when George Lucas approached him about playing  Chewbacca.

After the films were made, he returned to  Yorkshire in the UK, but soon found he was in demand at sci-fi conventions in  the U.S.

After meeting his wife, Angie, at one of the  conventions, Mayhew moved to Texas, where the couple raise goats and  chickens.

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