Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am detailed an incident on a flight that led to police confronting him at an airport in Australia on Friday (November 15). The veteran artist claimed a flight attendant acted unprofessionally during his travels and accused her of being racist for calling the cops.
“I’m currently on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney,” he initially wrote via Twitter. “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.”
About 30 minutes later, will.i.am posted a photo of a police officer at the airport and called out the flight attendant by name for her alleged actions.
“This is how your greeted when you land from Brisbane to Sydney flying @qantas with a #RacistFlightattendant named Lorraine Marshall,” he explained. “She sent the police after me bacause I couldn’t hear the P.A while making beats on the plane wearing noise canceling headphones…
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“@Qantas Your #RacistFlightattendant was beyond rude & took it to the next level by calling the police on me. thank god the other passengers testified that SHE was out of Control ?? the police finally let me go. imagine if the police were as aggressive as Lorraine Marshall.”
The BEP frontman also responded to Twitter users questioning his claims.
“I’m sorry? Is callin the police on a passenger for not hearing he P.A due to wearing noise canceling headphones appropriate?” he fired back at one person. “If didn’t put away my laptop ‘in a rapid 2min time’ I’d understand. I did comply quickly & politely, only to be greeted by police. I think I was targeted.”
He noted, “I wasn’t ignoring the safety briefing…& I was paying attention…I put on my headphones 20min into the flight..:thanks…”
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The multi-platinum selling artist retweeted someone who claimed to have been on the flight and confirmed his experience with the attendant. He then further clarified his comments in response to others.
“No one said she was a white supremest,” he wrote. “I said she singled every person of colourbin the flight and gave them a hard time…and went to the extreme of calling the police on me when I did nothing wrong…other passengers on the flight agreed that she was out of hand.”
He added, “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?”
Although will.i.am didn’t regret taking his issue public, he urged others not to harass the flight attendant after learning fans tracked her down on social media.
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“Please do not send Hate,” he told his followers. “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 #noH8.”
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