Nile Rodgers has backed a Ryanair boycott following criticism of the response to a racist incident on one of the airline's planes.
The Chic star, 66, revealed how he had a run in with airline staff back in 2012, when he was suffering with cancer, after a video emerged of a man racially abusing an elderly black woman on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to London’s Stansted airport. Bosses at the airline have been heavily criticised as the man was not removed from the flight, and instead the woman was asked to move seat.
On Tuesday (23Oct18) Nile told a fan who’d tweeted him suggesting Ryanair's aviation licence be rescinded with that he’d rather fork out for far pricier air transport than ever fly with the budget airline again.
The music legend wrote: "I hate to say bad things against anybody, but we fly millions of miles and my entire organization has standing orders to never fly @Ryanair - I've dipped into my pocket to charter planes rather than fly them. Fortunately I can afford it but'd rather give money to charity."
In an earlier tweet, the Le Freak hitmaker alleged staff on one Ryanair flight had refused him water he needed to take his cancer medication.
"I wish someone had video tape of how @Ryanair treated me after I'd just had a #cancer operation and needed a simple glass of water to take medication," the usually laid-back musician raged. "As in this case a passenger came to my aid because I didn't have the small amount of money for the water. UGH!"
In a statement, a spokesperson for the company told the Metro newspaper that officials had "sincerely apologised" to Nile over the incident, which occurred on a flight from Ibiza to Manchester, England, and blamed the problem on credit card issues. Nile was given the all-clear from prostate cancer in 2013, but announced last year (17), that he had recently had a cancerous growth removed from his kidney.
Ryanair have refused to comment on the racist incident, as they have passed the matter on to police for investigation. It is now being probed by Spanish authorities.
