Qantas v will.i.am: The Veronicas double down on criticism
The Veronicas’ Jess and Lisa Origliasso say Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am should not retract his claims of racism against a Qantas flight attendant after their own dispute with the airline.
Confidential
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Veronicas have doubled down on their criticism of Qantas after defending Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am.
Jessica and Lisa Origliasso, 34, told Confidential that they had flown with the airline for 15 years without incident prior to their stoush in September and they said will.i.am should not retract his claims of racism after Qantas demanded the rapper do so following a separate incident.
“Just to reiterate, we never had an issue like the one we had for 15 years,” Jess said at the Women in Music event presented by ARIA.
“We had a longstanding wonderful relationship with [Qantas], we’re quite surprised and shocked and very disheartened with how this has all played out and to see it repeated in obviously a different circumstance with what Will experienced … it is incredibly intimidating.
“We’re very disappointed that it’s happened again in such a short period of time as well and he’s someone who’s flown for a long time like we have.”
The acclaimed pop duo recently tweeted their support for the American musician after he accused a Qantas flight attendant of racism.
The twin sisters claimed the flight attendant who clashed with will.i.am is the same woman who they previously clashed with before they were escorted off a flight by police.
Qantas has dismissed all claims as “utterly untrue” and asked will.i.am to retract his claim, however, Jess and Lisa say that he shouldn’t have to do that.
“No. Why would he?” said Jess.
Lisa added: “We weren’t there but we support him.”
They continued to speak highly of the rapper.
“He is an incredible advocate and activist and we just have a lot of respect for Will, we’ve known him for years and actually had the same management in the US for 10 years,” Jess said.
“He is a powerful speaker, a man of his word and integrity and we felt that it was very important to be able to offer our absolute support for him with the position that he found himself in and we wanted him to know that we absolutely supported him.”
Lisa added: “Yeah that’s the thing, it’s interesting to note that this is someone who travels the world, he’s done a lot of flying and so for this to happen of course that’s incredibly upsetting.”
Will.i.am vented his frustration on Twitter after being greeted by police at Sydney Airport last week, following his mid-air clash with a flight attendant.
A Qantas spokesperson denied his claims of racism and said the situation was simply a “misunderstanding” that was made worse by the rapper wearing noise-cancelling headphones.
Qantas confirmed it will provide support to a flight attendant to sue will.i.am if he refuses to retract his claim that she was racist towards him.
“(In absence of) a retraction and if the crew member wanted to take the matter further, we’d certainly be willing to provide legal support for them to do this,” a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, when asked about their outspokenness, The Veronicas, who flew with Virgin on a flight to Sydney on Monday, said they will always speak openly.
“At the end of the day, for us it’s about truth, integrity, honour, love – truth it’s a funny thing when you live in the world that we live in it has to be used responsibly,” Jess said.
“You have to be brave and for us we have a lot of young fans we’ve had fans grow up with us, we are incredibly privileged to have the platform that we have. We were raised by a very strong woman – our mummy who said ‘If you’re speaking in truth and integrity then nothing else matters but you must do that’.”
The Think of Me singers say they’re grateful they can use their platforms to share the truth and promote good causes like Share the Dignity, which sees people fill a handbag with a Christmas gift for women and girls in need.
WIM partnered with the homeless women’s charity and The Veronicas are lending their support.
“I think it’s incredibly important when you have a platform to use your voice to spread awareness for something so important,” Lisa said.
“Especially being women coming together specifically for other women is a huge honour, and a huge privilege for us.”