Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am took to Twitter on Friday to complain about the way he was being treated on a Qantas flight over Australia.
The 44-year-old rapper-singer fumed to his 12.8 million followers about an “overly aggressive flight attendant” on the 90-minute flight between Brisbane to Sydney.
“I don’t want to believe she [is] racist,” he tweeted. “But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour.” In subsequent tweets, will.i.am used the hashtag “#RacistFlightAttendant.”
will.i.am then named the flight attendant and accused her of having police meet him upon arrival in Sydney. “She sent the police after me bacause (sic) I couldn’t hear the P.A. while making beats on the plane wearing noise canceling headphones,” he shared.
will.i.am praised other passengers for backing him up. “The police finally let me go,” he said.
This is how your greeted when you land from Brisbane to Sydney flying @qantas with a #RacistFlightattendant named Lorraine Marshall...She sent the police after me bacause I couldn’t hear the P.A while making beats on the plane wearing noise canceling headphones... pic.twitter.com/9xT7WqTUoO
— will.i.am (@iamwill) November 16, 2019
Qantas said in a statement: “There was a misunderstanding on board, which seems to have been exacerbated by will.i.am wearing noise cancelling headphones and not being able to hear instructions from crew.”
The musician countered: “I did comply quickly & politely, only to be greeted by police. I think I was targeted.
“I wasn’t ignoring the safety briefing...& I was paying attention...I put on my headphones 20min into the flight.”
will.i.am later alleged via Twitter that the flight attendant “singled every person of colour in the flight and gave them a hard time.”
Others claiming to have been on the flight tweeted their support for the singer and some of his followers started trolling the flight attendant on social media – prompting will.i.am to call for respect.
"Please do not send Hate,” he tweeted. “This type of disrespect and name calling is uncalled for...I don’t support abuse & attacks like this...I hope that everyone can be more compassionate & understanding towards one another...because it was the lack of compassion that caused this.”
Early Monday, will.i.am was still defending himself from accusations that he overreacted.
“I am in the public eye & I behave even when I have a bad day...my mother raised me to be polite & treat people with respect,” he tweeted. “Being a public figure puts extra guards rails so I stay polite & serve...everyone should operate with respect. especially people who serve the public
“We live in 2019 & technology is advancing...they have WiFi [in] certain planes & noise canceling is becoming a standard...people who serve the paying public need to know that passengers have on devices that block out outside sound...sending the POLICE after them is a bit much.”