16 November 2019
Newsdesk
will.i.am took to Twitter to accuse a Qantas flight attendant of racism while on board an internal flight from Brisbane to Sydney in Australia on Saturday.
The Black Eyed Peas star, real name William Adams, whose group is part of the RNB Fridays Live festival tour, hit out at the service he and his entourage received at the hands of the "aggressive" staff member.
"I'm sorry to say me and my group have experienced the worst service due to an overly aggressive flight attendant," the Where Is the Love? star penned. "I don't want to believe she racist. But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour."
The musician went on to complain about having police greet him at the terminal despite being "polite" and respectful to crew members during his ordeal, and shared a shaky photo of a federal police officer, who greeted the group on disembarking the plane.
"This is how you're greeted when you land from Brisbane to Sydney flying @qantas with a #RacistFlightattendant," he added. "She sent the police after me because I couldn't hear the P.A while making beats on the plane wearing noise cancelling headphones."
While the star was confronted by angry fans on the social networking site over his decision to name the flight attendant in his tweet, he defended the decision, insisting, "This type of disrespect and name calling is uncalled for... I think I was targeted."
However, a representative from Qantas rejected the singer's claims, replying 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.
"We completely reject the suggestion this had anything to do with race," they continued. "We'll be following up with will.i.am and wish him well for the rest of the tour."
