Qantas has refuted allegations by the American pop star Will.i.am (real name: William Adams) who has accused a flight attendant of racist and aggressive behaviour towards him. Adams was on a Qantas flight between Brisbane and Sydney on Friday night where he was due to play a concert as part of the Black Eyed Peas when the incident occurred.
“I’m currently on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney. I’m sorry to say me and my group have experienced they worse (sic) 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,” the songwriter posted to his Twitter account.
This is how your greeted when you land from Brisbane to Sydney flying @qantas with a #RacistFlightattendant named Lorraine Marshall…She sent the police after me bacause I couldn’t hear the P.A while making beats on the plane wearing noise canceling headphones… pic.twitter.com/9xT7WqTUoO
— will.i.am (@iamwill) November 16, 2019
Using the hashtag #RacistFlightAttendant in his next message, Will.i.am said he was met by five police officers on arrival into Sydney and questioned for a short time before being let go. He claimed the flight attendant became aggressive towards him because he couldn’t hear a P.A. message as he was “making beats on the plane wearing noise-cancelling headphones.”
But Adams has come under fire for his decision to share the name and even a photo of the flight attendant in his Twitter complaint. As fans started to make online threats towards the flight attendant, Will.i.am appealed for calm but stood by his decision to name and shame her on social media.
“#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,” he said in a later Tweet.
No one said she was a white supremest… 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… https://t.co/fyh6DUb9F8
— will.i.am (@iamwill) November 16, 2019
Responding to queries about his behaviour on the flight, Will.i.am said he “quickly and politely” complied with crew member instructions once he was aware that he had missed the P.A.
In response to Will.i.am’s complaints, a spokesperson for Qantas said of the incident:
“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. We’ll be following up with will.i.am and wish him well for the rest of the tour.”
