Pop singer and songwriter Bebe Rexha claimed she was the victim of a hate crime after she was denied entry to a Lufthansa flight to Munich because she spoke Albanian to a security guard.
“I was threatened because I thought the security guard was Albanian,” the singer wrote tearfully in the videos she posted on her Instagram story on Saturday. “I spoke to him in Albanian and asked where I could get my ticket and now he is banning me from boarding the flight.”
The dance/R&B musician, who has worked with Doja Cat, David Guetta, Eminem and Florida Georgia Line, is of North Macedonian and Albanian descent.
“I believe this is a hate crime because I am Albanian,” she wrote in a second story post that has since expired. “(The supervisor) did not let me give his name. He continued to psychologically abuse me to make me feel more powerful than he was. None of the women at @Lufthansa intervened or said anything.”
In a later update, the “I’m Good” singer said the airline had contacted her about the incident.
“I have never been so emotionally drained. @Lufthansa has sent me a direct message, but I urge them to conduct a full investigation to find out who this man is who abused his power. An ‘I’m sorry’ will not be enough this time,” she wrote.
In a final message shared on Sunday, Rexha said she had arrived home. “Thank you to everyone who has written and expressed concern. I made it home safely, thank God.”
In statements to Entertainment Weekly and CNN, the airline said it was conducting an “internal investigation” into the matter.
