Singer Kelis has accused Britain of being racially backward after claiming she was abused because of her skin colour while queueing at a London airport.Another one I had to look up...
So, what's the story?
She used her Twitter account to describe her ordeal which saw her clash with a "red faced sweaty man" and being called a "slave", "probably a disgusting Nigerian", and that an official behind the passport desk had laughed and said "Kunta Kinte", the name of a slave in Alex Haley's best selling book about the slave trade, Roots.Shocking! awful! And the 'Guardian' takes her at her own words.
She said the man believed Kelis had pushed in. The singer wrote: "We just landed and I had the midget with me. we get in the passport control line and apparently pissed this one man off cause he thought I cut the line. Which wouldn't be far fetched of me but this time I actually didn't (not entirely anyway)...Sympathy evaporating fast. I can pretty much imagine how this situation went.
And I don't suppose it's occurred to her that if he was in the same passport queue with her, he wouldn't be likely to be a Brit. Don't they go to a different queue? Admittedly, I haven't flown for a year or so, but that was always the case then...
All the while the entire line full of people I just sat on a plane with for almost 3 hours.They've just had a long flight, and if some up-herself stroppy cow is having a tantrum in the check-in aisle, then yes, they're going to look the other way, silently rolling eyes at one another and hoping this doesn't hold them up further.
"Over 50 people said nothing. I mean literally nothing. Didn't flinch.
I didn't say anything at the time of the riots in London For a lot of reasons. But I am in london all the time and today I'm gonna say that the racial issues in the UK are disgusting.Oh, really? Feel free to never come here again to play....whatever the hell it is you play.
Quite a few Jamaicans in London also seem to share the same aversion to queueing.
ReplyDeleteShe's right. 'Racial' matters in London are bad. Just not in the way she thinks.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a British Citizen would be unlikely to be in the same queue as what's her name. Also did the man's supposed rant sound as unlikely to everyone else as it did to me if the man really was British?
ReplyDeleteRoots, and the leading character Kunta Kinte, isn't the cultural reference point it is in the USA and seems hardly the racial slur most likely to spring to anyone's lips on the spur of the moment. Neither is "slave" for that matter.
If Thingy's story is anything like true, I wonder if the passport official was repeating "Kunta Kinte" quizzically, given that anyone under about 50 is unlikely to have seen the series, and it's not as if the book is that commonly read or referenced in the UK either.
I was forced to interrupt someone's queue jumping efforts recently, another total & utter Kunte Kinte.
ReplyDeleteAnd stand up for yourself you minging non-entity. Why should anyone else say anything on your behalf. Or perhaps they just thought she was a bit of a Kunte Kinte themselves.
Huh - multiple people including an immigration officer that actually know enough televised history to call someone the name from a racially charged series. Wow - I didn't think we had that much culture here. Unless she's maybe bullshitting.
ReplyDelete"probably a disgusting Nigerian" is not racist.
ReplyDeleteFor all I know there may well be white or yellow or green Nigerians. It is a reference to a country. Perhaps a not very pleasant country, but coming from a place is no indicator of skin colour or race.
OTOH it is an indicator of the person's viewpoint (in this case singer Kellis) who thinks that there is a racist insult where there is none.
WV= malside = the less pleasing aspect of people
Is she sure that is was 'Kunta Kinteh' the red faced bloke said?
ReplyDeleteHere in Birmingham the aversion of certain segments of the population to queueing is so marked it could be congenital.
ReplyDelete"Cause he thought I cut the line. Which wouldn't be far fetched of me but this time I actually didn't (not entirely anyway)..."
ReplyDeleteEr, either you did, or you didn't - how can you partially queue jump??
W/V "sadmisbe" - excellent!
Come off it, Julia. Kelis is known well enough to the phrenic set. The Diva would be moved to considerable violence were you to pretend that you had never heard her rap out 'Dem whities all be Kuntas.'
ReplyDeleteAnd who could forget the magnificent animal power of 'Dat still a big nana for a hood n***a'? It is guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye.
Dear Sir, Request for Urgent Business Relationship
ReplyDeleteKELSI D. BAYERO
TEL/FAX: 234-90-406917
Tweet: KunaKindee
LAGOS, NIGERIA
Dear Sir,
Request for Urgent Business Deal
We are the poster child of Nigeria and a member of the ad hoc committee set up by the federal government of Nigeria to review contracts.
Our request is anchored on our strong desire to establish a lasting business relationship literally sitting on my hip and we don't mind cutting the line.
You have been recommended to us by someone in an airport queue and we were assured of your ability to prosecute business transaction that require maximum confidentiality and not a sweaty red face.
I have therefore been mandated as a matter of trust by the midget to look for a aprox a 50 year old english man into whose account we could transfer the sum of USD25,320,000.00 (twenty-five million, three hundred and twenty thousand US dollars) only if you treat me with respec.
Hence I am writing you this letter. We have agreed to share the funds thus:
(1) 65% for us (the committee members) and
(2) 25% for account owner (fat red faced sweaty "man")
(3) 10% to be used for writing shit tweets that get into even shittier newspapers
It is from the 65% that we wish to commence the importation busines. Please note that this transaction is 100% safe and guaranteed since it's racially decades behind progression. I'm a believer. And we are better. Sposed to be..
We are looking forward to doing this business with you. We all no I'm no saint.
Yours faithfully, KELSI D. BAYERO
"...an official behind the passport desk had laughed"
ReplyDeleteAnyone having passed through Passport Control in the last 30 years will KNOW that immigration officials NEVER laugh! I believe its been genetically bred out of the species. But I'm sure after her criticism of them they'll show her just how funny they can be on her next visit to racist London
Ms Kinte.... ermmm Kelis certainly has a penchant for exaggeration. She's reported as flying in from the Isle of Wight yet says she was sat on a plane "for almost 3 hours". Wow! That's some epic flight.
"...and it's not as if the book is that commonly read or referenced in the UK either."
ReplyDeleteBut it was massively popular as one of the first big miniseries over here when it came out. I remember it very well, and got the reference immediately.
" Unless she's maybe bullshitting."
Anything for publicity?
"Is she sure that is was 'Kunta Kinteh' the red faced bloke said?"
I can see some phrases that would be misinterpreted... ;)
"... how can you partially queue jump??"
Precisely!
"And who could forget the magnificent animal power of 'Dat still a big nana for a hood n***a'? It is guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye."
ReplyDeleteClearly songwriting genius to make Bacharach and David want to weep...
"Dear Sir, Request for Urgent Business Relationship.."
SNORK!
"Anyone having passed through Passport Control in the last 30 years will KNOW that immigration officials NEVER laugh! I believe its been genetically bred out of the species. "
Indeed!
"Wow! That's some epic flight."
Hah! I totally missed that bit!
"Wow! That's some epic flight."
ReplyDeleteUmm, is it usual to pass through passport control when flying from the Isle of Wight to London? The story doesn't make sense!
Apparently this happened in Spain. That explains the 3 hour flight.
ReplyDeleteHowever
1) The immigration officer was Spanish so probably thinking of something else
2) Not everyone on the plane would speak English well enough to understand the altercation
3) The passport lines should still have been different
"Here in Birmingham the aversion of certain segments of the population to queueing is so marked it could be congenital."
ReplyDeleteToo bl**dy right, Trevor. I've moved to Warwick now, but when I lived in erdington and was catching the buses from Bull St, only me and a couple of old ladies would ever queue at the stop. When the bus hove into view, "Whoomph!", an almighty scrum would appear as if from nowhere around the bus doors. "Zulus! Faahsends of 'em."
many things make me angry about the state of this country, but that was the only one that has ever made me sad. The decline of civility, I suppose. And how pathetically helpless we are in the face of these small but oh so significant erosions of quality of social discourse.
"Anyone having passed through Passport Control in the last 30 years will KNOW that immigration officials NEVER laugh!"
ReplyDeleteSure as hell applied at Darwin, Australia in 1984. "Prisoner, Cell Block H" came to mind...
Lots of back-stepping going on as she has now admitted this happened in Spain.All those people desperate to kiss her arse and and accept her word as gospel must feel pretty silly right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the Spanish diversity police have set up a squad of crack detectives to hunt this man down-oh no that only happens in England doesn't it?
Jaded
This is such obvious bollocks. I've been through Spain and as an EU citizen I barely had to show my passport. And, yes, at Madrid at least EU and non-EU citizens are in different queues. Only when the EU queue is empty will they start shepherding people across from the non-EU area (like in the US.)
ReplyDeleteWhat chances of 'the midget' growing up with self-esteem issues?
ReplyDeleteStupid bint then remembered this had actually happened in Spain!! But it definitely was a British man
ReplyDelete