Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am has caused a stir on Twitter after he said that he was subjected to racism during a flight from the Australian city of Brisbane to the capital Sydney. The artist, and a coach on the Voice UK, tweeted that he and his group had experienced their worst-ever service due to an overly aggressive flight attendant, who took out all her frustrations on people of colour.
Will.i.am, whose real name is William Adams, said the woman called the police on him because he allegedly did not hear a “P.A. due to wearing noise cancelling headphones”. He then tweeted that he did not ignore a safety briefing and did comply with all instructions.
The singer’s tweets caused a stir on social media and have received mixed reactions with some netizens saying that incidents of racial discrimination happen quite a lot in Australia, while others said they want to hear the other side of the story.
Other social media users claimed that the artist is a spoiled celebrity and accused him of playing the race card.
Many users said that the Qantas staff treat all customers poorly and the altercation had nothing to do with racism.
Others pointed out that the singer had not complied with strict aviation laws and that an Australian pop duo had been kicked off a flight after they put their luggage in the wrong way.
Still others joked that the flight attendant is not a big fan of Will.i.am’s music.
The singer received backlash for revealing the flight attendant’s name, with people sayting the woman may become the target of abuse. Australian reporter Peter Ford posted a picture of an aggressive message the woman received and said that artist's fans have started attacking her. The singer then urged his fans not to send aggressive messages to the flight attendant.
Commenting on his decision to reveal the woman’s name, Will.i.am said people are “supposed to call out wrong doings” and that he is using Twitter the same way other people use it to complain about mistreatment. Qantas said it completely rejects the singer's claims that he was subjected to racism.