Air carrier captain reported a passenger was removed for non-compliance with face mask policy.

Narrative:

I removed a passenger for non-compliance with a condition of carriage -- wearing the mask. I asked the passenger to don his mask three separate times. Each time; he gave me some sass. I notified him that I saw his actions as refusal to comply with our mask policy and told him that if I couldn't rely on his compliance; he would not be able to fly with us to ZZZ1. I got another 'whatever' from him; so I initiated the removal process by speaking to the gate agent; who called the csa; who removed the passenger from our flight. The csa later informed me that the passenger in question was traveling with 3 companions. (I only saw two companions; and they were each initially non-compliant as well; but then did comply after I spoke to them.) the csa asked me if I wanted all 4 passengers removed or just the one passenger. I told her that I was only concerned with the one passenger and that the other 3 were free to come with us. I do not know whether they took our flight without their companion; or whether they took the next flight with their companion.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported a passenger was removed for non-compliance with face mask policy.

Narrative: I removed a passenger for non-compliance with a condition of carriage -- wearing the mask. I asked the passenger to don his mask three separate times. Each time; he gave me some sass. I notified him that I saw his actions as refusal to comply with our mask policy and told him that if I couldn't rely on his compliance; he would not be able to fly with us to ZZZ1. I got another 'whatever' from him; so I initiated the removal process by speaking to the gate agent; who called the CSA; who removed the passenger from our flight. The CSA later informed me that the passenger in question was traveling with 3 companions. (I only saw two companions; and they were each initially non-compliant as well; but then did comply after I spoke to them.) The CSA asked me if I wanted all 4 passengers removed or just the one passenger. I told her that I was only concerned with the one passenger and that the other 3 were free to come with us. I do not know whether they took our flight without their companion; or whether they took the next flight with their companion.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1759940
Time
Date	202009
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct