- ARTISTS
- NEWS
- UNDERGROUND
- TICKET NEWS
- COMPETITION
British singer Leona Lewis and her father were allegedly thrown out of a shop by a "racist" owner after she found fame on The X Factor U.K.
The Bleeding Love hitmaker, who won the show in 2006, revealed her own experience of racism in Britain in a video posted on Instagram on Sunday, in which she said she was sharing to challenge the idea that racism is only an American problem, following the focus on the killing of African-American man George Floyd in the U.S.
Describing the incident, which occurred when she was shopping with her "lovable" dad in west London several years ago, she said she noticed the female shop owner began "hovering around" them as they were the only black customers.
"Eventually, she came up to my dad and I and said, 'You need to put that stuff down, you're not allowed to touch it'," Leona continued. "Every other person was picking stuff up, looking at it. (So) I immediately knew what was happening and I asked her, 'Why? Everyone else is picking stuff up.'
"It sparked a rage in me. I started saying, 'No, I'm not going to put it down, I'm going to buy it. Why are you targeting us?'"
The musician went on to reveal that other shoppers left the store without saying anything and that the woman then threatened to call the police, before her dad persuaded her to leave with him and sit in their car.
"I sat in the car that was parked around the corner, and I just sobbed, absolutely sobbed. And my dad came out, grabbed something from the car, and went back into the shop," she continued.
The shop worker then followed him back outside and apologised - as Leona's father had shown them her CD - but denied she had been racist.
Describing her reaction, Leona added: "I confronted her and said, 'You're racist. You're a racist. You targeted me and my dad, you wanted to throw us out of the store because we're black. You're racist.'"