Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am says Qantas flight was like a police state
Qantas will support a flight attendant if she decides to sue star rapper will.i.am who said the staff member was racist towards him on a business class flight from Brisbane ahead of his Homebush concert at the weekend if he won’t retract the claim.
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Qantas has confirmed it will provide support to a flight attendant to sue star rapper will.i.am if he refuses to retract his claim that she was racist towards him.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a memo has been sent by Qantas to staff explaining the bizarre situation on-board a domestic flight on Saturday which resulted in a rapper tweeting a picture of the flight attendant.
“The tweets claimed poor treatment from crew and discrimination on the basis of race. We replied that there appeared to be a misunderstanding on board that was exacerbated by the fact will.i.am was wearing noise cancelling headphones,” the memo says.
“We rejected claims of racism and have since asked will.i.am for a retraction of that claim. We fully support our crew and the great work they do ensuring safety of all those on board.”
A Qantas spokesman on Monday said the company would provide any assistance to the staff member to pursue the matter in the courts.
“(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,” the spokesman said.
It’s understood the flight attendant that will.i.am publicly shamed over the incident has a clean record with Qantas.
“The crew member involved is understandably shaken by what has occurred. She is a private person with a very good, long term record with Qantas,” an insider said.
The memo comes after pop duo The Veronicas came out in support of the American hip hop star yesterday after what he claimed was an “aggressive” and “racist” encounter with the Qantas employee on his business class flight from Brisbane ahead of his concert on Saturday night at Homebush.
The Black Eyed Peas frontman said the episode took place as the crew was preparing the cabin to land in Sydney.
Working on new music on his laptop, the musician wore noise-cancelling headphones and says he didn’t hear the crew instructions, prompting the flight attendant to allegedly single him out.
“The reason why I am so shocked is that I didn’t have a confrontation with the flight attendant,” he said.
“She asked me to put my laptop away and I put it away and I told her to relax because the whole flight she was stressed.”
On landing, Australian Federal Police officers met the plane and discussed the incident with will.i.am, who shared an image of the flight attendant’s Facebook profile picture to his nearly 13 million followers on Twitter.
The episode prompted a tweet in support from twin sisters Lisa and Jessica Origliasso, who were also removed from a Qantas plane leaving Sydney in September.
“Sadly this female flight attendant was one of the two attendants involved in our incident with Qantas,” the pair tweeted.
However a Qantas spokesman yesterday denied the same flight attendant who was involved in the incident with the Veronicas was involved in the will.i.am incident.
He said the pop duo’s tweet was “utterly untrue”.
The Veronicas’ tweet continued: “We feel sickened she was given no reprisal and his instead continued to abuse her position, discriminate, and misuse the full force and intimidation of the Australian Federal Police to her agenda.”
According to Qantas after The Veronicas’ incident, the pair “refused to follow crew instructions” on the flight to Brisbane and were deemed security risks — a scene the pair described as “upsetting”.
The twin sisters then said the incident was blown out of proportion and quashed any suggestion it was all for publicity before announcing they would be taking legal action against the Australian airline.
Will.i.am has accused the flight attendant involved in his incident of racism, a claim the airline has denied.
“I’ve never seen this, it was like a police state,” will.i.am told The Sunday Telegraph.
“I am the coolest traveller, I don’t ask for much. I try to stay out of their way. I come on the plane to go to sleep or I go to work.”
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“Yeah, I didn’t hear the PA but we had no confrontation.
“The reason I took to Twitter was I just felt that if she was this abusive to me and other folks that I saw, she must be abusive to other people as well.”
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“I wish no harm to that lady, hopefully this is a lesson,” he said.
“She shouldn’t lose her job over it — if anything she should be retrained on how to deal with people. This is an opportunity to be pleasant to everyone, to just be nice.”
The 44-year-old defended his decision to identify the woman, saying: “My taking to Twitter was thinking of all the other folks that aren’t me and all of the abuse that people have to take or being felt like cattle or sheep, being talked down to,” he said.
“Yes, there are some flight attendants that are amazing, like my flight from Sydney to Brisbane, those people were so nice … they made everyone laugh and feel comfortable. It was an amazing crew but I have never had this experience before.”
Qantas issued a statement saying: “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.”
The version on will.i.am’s Twitter feed, which began about 12.30pm yesterday, described the attendant as “overly aggressive … I don’t want to believe she racist. But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour.”
The artist, whose real name is William Adams, also posted a picture of a police officer at Sydney Airport.
Asked what action would be taken, the Qantas spokesman said: “We’re looking into what occurred.”
Another passenger, who declined to be named, said tensions began on the Brisbane tarmac when a different flight attendant told 50 Cent guitarist Travis Ferguson he could not have his guitar on board and would have to check it in.
The passenger said Ferguson left the plane but returned with the instrument, saying a different cabin crew member said he could take it aboard. A further disagreement ensued.
“He (Ferguson) says ‘That’s ridiculous’ and ‘I’m done with this discussion’ and gets his phone out and the flight attendant says ‘Look at me when I’m talking to you’,” the passenger said.
According to the passenger, a second flight attendant then said words to the effect of: “If you have a problem you can get off my plane.”
“All this is happening behind will.i.am and he’s got his noise-cancelling headphones on, so he is oblivious,” the passenger said. Subsequently the second attendant spoke to will.i.am about closing his laptop.
When the plane landed in Sydney, the passenger said two police officers came on board and spoke to will.i.am.
“(At one stage) one of the Black Eyed Peas guys got his phone out and started recording and the flight attendant says ‘You have to delete that’,” the passenger said.
“She demanded to see his phone to check he had he deleted it.
“They didn’t say any racist words, but they only treated the black people that way.”
Australian Federal Police said officers attended Sydney Airport and spoke to will.i.am and his entourage and no further action was taken.
“The AFP considers the matter finalised,” the spokeswoman said.