A man was booted off a Southwest Airlines plane in California — because he jokingly asked if the water being handed out on the delayed flight was vodka, according to new reports.

Passenger Peter Uzelac told local station FOX 40 that he was on a flight from Sacramento to Austin, Texas, with a stop in Los Angeles, on May 8.

While on the tarmac, a maintenance light came on — and the plane was returned to the gate to check out a minor issue.

It took a few hours for the plane to refuel, so the flight attendants handed out water to all the passengers, Uzelac told the outlet.

Then the unidentified man next to him made what seemed like an innocent joke.

“He said something [like], ‘They should be passing out vodka because we’ve been waiting so long,’” Uzelac said.

The attendant curtly replied, “Yeah, it’s vodka,” and when she moved to another row, the man joked back, “Hey, this isn’t vodka,” Uzelac told Yahoo Lifestyle.

The attendant, whom Uzelac described as young, did not see the humor in the man’s comment, he told FOX 40.

“She came by and was like, ‘I don’t think that and I didn’t like your joke,’” he said. “Then my wife tried to butt in there and say, ‘Look it, we’ve been on this plane for hours.’ And she says, ‘Well, so have I, so get used to it.’”

Then the attendant started speaking to someone on the phone at the front of the plane — and the aircraft turned back to the gate a second time.

Several Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies boarded the plane and asked the offending jokester to leave.

“And people started yelling then,” Uzelac told the station. “In fact, people stood up. I stood up. People were saying this man didn’t do anything.”

The man was not charged with any crime, and Uzelac said he’s filed a complaint against the attendant with Southwest.

“If they have this in their records, you know, maybe it will prevent this from happening again,” he told the outlet.

In a statement released to the station, Southwest said it would share the report with its Customer Relations Team.

“We regret any less-than-positive experience a customer has onboard our aircraft,” the statement said. “We welcome over 100 million customers each year, and we aim to maintain the comfort of all while delivering Southwest hospitality.”