American rapper will.i.am has taken to social media to ask his 12 million followers to find "compassion and understanding" following his run-in with a Qantas flight attendant over the weekend.
"Please do not send Hate," he tweeted.
"This type of disrespect and name calling is uncalled for...I don't support abuse & attacks like this...I hope that everyone can be more compassionate & understanding towards one another...because it was the lack of compassion that caused this."
The plea came after the Black Eyed Peas star, who has previously spent significant time in Australia as a judge on Channel 9's The Voice, was met by police while disembarking a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney, claiming he had been racially profiled by one of the airline's flight attendants.
“I don’t want to believe she racist,” he wrote in a tweet. “But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour.”
"I did comply quickly and politely, only to be greeted by police," will.i.am wrote in a later tweet. "I think I was targeted."
Needless to say, things soon escalated - with the story of will.i.am taking on a 'racist' flight attendant being covered by news outlets around the world.
The incident has divided Australians, though award-winning poet, writer and author Maxine Beneba Clarke said the rapper's experience was "nothing new".
"will.i.am's experience with that Qantas flight attendant is nothing new," she tweeted.
"There is nothing that infuriates a racist more than having to be hospitable to a black person as part of their job.
"You can sense their burning rage: they feel like things are wrong way round."
In a statement to CNN, Qantas put the incident down to a "misunderstanding", denying the heated exchange had anything to do with race.
"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," the airline said.
"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."
However, the airline's statement fell short, according to some social media users.
"@Qantas what’s with all the firsthand accounts of poor customer service and racism in the case of will.i.am?" One Twitter user wrote.
"A knee jerk rx [reaction] saying he’s wrong and you’re blameless just look incompetent and lacking in introspection."
This isn't the first time a visiting star has complained of being racially targeted in Australia, with Australian-born NBA player Ben Simmons taking to Instagram earlier this year after allegedly being racially profiled by bouncers at the Crown Casino.
The 23-year-old told his 4.3 million Instagram followers that he had been barred from the casino for failing to present ID, with his white travel companion not being carded. Crown denied the claims, saying the company's security policy required security officers to check identification of people they believed were under age 25.
