Musician will.i.am says a Qantas flight attendant was “racist” towards him during a flight from Brisbane to Sydney.
The Black Eyed Peas band’s frontman tweeted that he was singled out when he missed a plane announcement to put his laptop away.
Qantas issued a statement denying the allegation.
“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,” a spokesman said.
“We’ll be following up with will.i.am and wish him well for the rest of the tour.”
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Sharing his story with his 12.8 million Twitter followers, will.i.am tweeted, “I’m sorry to say me and my group have experienced the (sic) worse service due to an overly aggressive flight attendant…”
“I don’t want to believe she [is] racist. But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour”.
I’m currently on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney.
I’m sorry to say me and my group have experienced they worse service due to a overly aggressive flight attendant…
I don’t want to believe she racist.
But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour— will.i.am (@iamwill) November 16, 2019
End of Twitter post by @iamwill
After the plane landed, the singer was met by police at Sydney airport on Saturday.
In subsequent tweets, he added: “I was intimidated by 5 police when I landed…for what?”
I was intimidated by 5 police officers when I landed…for what? 🤷🏿♂️ I put away my laptop when she asked…why would she feel threatened by me to call the police? What did I do wrong? I wasn’t out of hand.. I was polite & did what she asked… now you’re asking me to take abuse? https://t.co/1390ThymY3
— will.i.am (@iamwill) November 16, 2019
End of Twitter post 2 by @iamwill
In his tweets, the star named the attendant involved in the row and shared an image of her and an Australian federal police officer.
A passenger who said she was on board the flight backed the star’s account.
I was on the same flight and couldn’t believe the appalling behaviour of the flight attendant. My apologies on behalf of Australia.
— Kate Selway (@kate_selway) November 16, 2019
End of Twitter post by @kate_selway
But will.i.am was criticised by others for naming the Qantas employee to his followers. The singer would later tweet urging followers not to target the woman.
Will.i.am is currently on tour in Australia.
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