Pop star Bebe Rexha thanked fans Sunday for buoying her up after her tearful allegation that she’d been banned from a flight in Munich for speaking Albanian to a security agent.
“Thank you everyone who messaged me and showed concern,” the singer wrote in her Instagram stories. “I got home safe, thank God.”
On Saturday, Rexha, who was born in the U.S. to Albanian parents, described the clash as a “hate crime.”
“Lufthansa, l’ve been threatened because I thought the security agent was Albanian,” she said in her Instagram stories alongside a video of her crying in the airport. “I spoke to him in Albanian asking where to get my ticket, and now he is banning me from the flight. I believe this to be a hate crime because I am Albanian.”
According to People, Rexha wrote of the confrontation: “He would not let me take his name. He continued to mentally abuse me to make me feel like he was more powerful [than] he was. Not one of the women at @Lufthansa stepped in or said something.”
Lufthansa reached out to the pop star and was “conducting an internal review on the matter,” the airline told People on Sunday.
“Our guests and employees come from all over the world,” Lufthansa stated. “Diversity and equal opportunity are core values for our company and our corporate culture. We do not tolerate any discriminatory behavior of any kind.”
It wasn’t enough, she batted back.
“I have never been so emotionally drained,” Rexha wrote in a followup Instragram story Sunday. “Lufthansa has direct messaged me, but I urge them to do a full investigation on finding out who this man who was abusing his power is. An ‘I’m sorry’ is not gonna cut it this time.”
She was able to get onto the flight normally and on time, Lufthansa told CNN.
Last year, Rexha was hit in the face with a phone flung by a New York City concertgoer who later told police he thought it would be “funny.” Afterward she posted a photo of herself sporting a purple shiner.
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