Will.I.Am Calls Out Racist Flight Attendant After Incident Onboard

Will.I.Am is calling out racism. The Black Eyed Peas singer, 44,  was approached by police officers when he landed at Sydney airport after an intense incident with a Qantas flight attendant he alleged was being “racist” and “beyond rude” to him on a flight to Sydney on Saturday, November 2019.

The singer was on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney when he claimed that he was targeted by the  “overly aggressive” air hostess after he was on his laptop with his headphones on. “I’m sorry to say me and my group have experienced the worst service due to an overly aggressive flight attendant,” the singer said in a tweet aimed at Qantas. “I don’t want to believe she’s racist. But she clearly aimed all her frustrations at the people of color.”

The singer said he had not heard the announcements over the PA because he was wearing noise-canceling headphones and was then confronted by the flight attendant when he did not put away his laptop quick enough.

Will.I.Am then used the hashtag #racistflighattendant in further tweets, saying that the attendant made matters worse by calling the authorities. “She sent the police after me because I couldn’t hear the P.A. while making beats on the plane wearing noise-canceling headphones,” the singer tweeted. Adding, “I did comply quickly and politely, only to be greeted by police, I think I was targeted.” The “Where Is The Love” singer said that the incident happened about twenty minutes into the flight.

When the plane landed, he was greeted by five police officers. The “I Gotta Feeling” singer posted a photo of a police officer at Sydney Airport and named the alleged air hostess on Twitter. Will.I.Am went on to thank other passengers that "testified that she was out of control” and police eventually released him.

"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 flight attendant.” Will.I.Am posted.

Meanwhile, the airline has denied all allegations that the incident had anything to do with race. “There was a misunderstanding on board, which seems to have been exacerbated by Will.I.Am wearing noise-canceling headphones and not being able to hear instructions from the crew,” a spokesperson for Qantas told 7NEWS.

“We completely reject the suggestion this had anything to do with race. We’ll be following up with Will.I.Am and wish him well for the rest of the tour,” the airline concluded.