R&B star Jason Derulo says he
was sworn at by an American Airlines pilot and met by 15 cops at the gate in a
racially motivated incident after he asked to turn around a plane before
takeoff so he could resolve a dispute over bag charges.
In a profanity-laced video posted
on TMZ, the singer-songwriter said he and his crew of
eight were “running a little behind” when they arrived at Miami International
Airport and tried to check nearly 20 bags at no fee.
Derulo claimed he encountered an
American Airlines employee who was “misinformed about how many bags a Concierge
Key member gets, so we tried to explain to him … because we do this every
single day.”
He said the employee walked away
for about 10 minutes and then came back and said it was too late to check the
bags.
“So one of our guys was like, OK,
listen … I’ll stay and I’ll take all your bags,” he said.
Derulo and the rest of his crew
proceeded to the gate and boarded the plane, when the guy who stayed behind
called him.
“And he’s like, ‘Yo! It’s gonna be
$6K to check all the bags’.
“What do you mean it’s gonna be $6K
to check our bags?
“They turn the plane around.
They’re like, ‘Is there anything we can do to keep you on the plane?’ We’re
like, don’t charge me the $6K! It’s that simple!
“So they end up turning the plane
around.”
That’s when things went from bad to
worse, the singer said.
“When I get on the ground here,
there’s 15 police officers waiting,” Derulo said on the video.
Then, he said, “As we’re getting
off the plane, the pilot comes and tries to make a scene …. He used profanity.
‘I want these guys off the f***ing plane right now!’
“I said, ‘Listen to me, sir, you’re
not going to talk to me like I’m your son. First of all, I’m not your son, and
I’m not at a lower level than you. What I’m getting right now is above your pay
grade … and you’re not going to talk down to me’.”
But if he were not a celebrity,
Derulo said, “I know what the outcome would have been … Once they found out who
I am, it’s all relaxed and it’s all cool and now we’re chilling in the lounge
at American Airlines, like everything is good. But it’s not good. Because … if
I wasn’t Jason Derulo, I’d be in f***ing cuffs!
“It’s 100 per cent racial, because
the initial thought in people’s minds is, you know these hoodlums … they be
causing problems.”
Derulo later took his complaint to
Instagram. In a now-deleted post directed at American Airlines, the singer
said: “I spent millions on your airline throughout the past 10 years between
myself and my entire staff but have still experienced racial discrimination
today at miami airport!!!”
In a statement to People, American Airlines said
Flight 275 “returned to the gate prior to departure. A passenger elected to
deplane in order to travel with their checked bags. The passenger has been rebooked
with his checked bags on a later flight this evening.”
According to a report filed by the
Miami-Dade Police Department, People added,
an airline employee said Derulo and his group “smelled of marijuana and were
getting aggressive” when they were checking in, and they refused to give their
IDs to airline staff when they got off the plane and initially refused to do
the same with police.
No charges were filed in the
incident, and the case was closed.
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