American singer Kelis found herself the subject of racial abuse while at an airport t in London this past week. The ‘Bounce’ singer who was in the UK to perform at Bestival, was at passport control with her young son Knight when a white middle-aged man accused her of queue-jumping and allegedly called her a “slave” and said she was “probably a disgusting Nigerian.”
Understandably the singer was enraged and took to popular social networking site t share her displeasure. The R&B singer explained: “He called me kunta kinte and ranted and raved some more. The man behind the passport desk laughed, shook his head in agreement I guess, and said ‘kunta kinte.’ All the while the entire line full of people I just sat on a plane with for almost 3 hours, over 50 people said nothing. I mean literally nothing. Didn’t flinch. We all know I’m no saint, so I retaliated. Not the way I wanted to or how that pig deserved. But #1 my gorgeous baby boy was literally sitting on my hip and #2 I’m a believer. And we are better. Supposed to be.”
Kelis then went on to cast aspersions at the UK being a place than welcomes all races and cultures and suggested the nations was instead as racially backward as her home country the US.
A spokesman for the Runnymede Trust, the U.K.’s leading independent race equality group, commented on the situation saying: ‘It’s worth noting that we’re not a multi-racial paradise in the U.K. but there is a fight back here, and there are lots of ways in which musicians like Kelis can contribute to that. Things like the UpRise music festival in London – 10,000 people making it clear they are against racism.”
