An airport security worker has been fired for handing a passenger a note that said "You ugly!!!"

The bizarre incident, which happened in June, came to light this week after passenger Neal Strassner obtained security video through a public records request and posted it to YouTube.

The video, from Greater Rochester International Airport in New York, shows the female security officer handing Strassner the handwritten note after he passes through a metal detector.

"I got handed something. I really didn't look at the thing, I kept going,” Strassner told CNN.

“She called back to me a few times, asked me if I was going to read the note or open it or something like that. I do and look at it and look at her, kind of shrug my shoulders and she laughs."

Strassner said he requested the video after people didn’t believe him. And he’s convinced others were handed a note.

"[At] the end of the video I requested she literally just takes a pen out of her pocket and starts writing another one -- so I know I wasn't the only guy that got ‘em," he said.

Strassner said he wasn’t offended, but was worried others might be. He later complained to her supervisors.

"You never really know where somebody is in their day or their head,” he said.

“The more you think about it the more you realize it's easier to smile than to do this."

The Transportation Security Administration said the woman worked for a contractor, which said it has "zero tolerance for this type of behaviour."

The TSA said in a statement that it launched an investigation immediately after receiving the complaint and the employee’s contract was terminated.

--- With files from The Associated Press