Many years ago, I knew a UA 727 captain. He told me about a LGA-ORD flight he piloted that was overweight. (LGA's short runways often result in limited takeoff weight for airplanes.) Dispatch didn't notice until all the passengers had boarded.

Rather than de-fuel, dispatch told him to go back and make a couple of passengers get off the plane.
His response was that he was not going to risk his life by telling New Yorkers to get off.

After a delay, the plane was moved to a runup area and ran the engines on the ground for about 20 minutes to burn off fuel.