Jason Derulo doesn't travel light.
That's pretty much the extent of what we know for sure on an encounter that took place between the performer and American Airlines staff.
People.com reports on a he said-they said scenario wherein Derulo charges the airlines staff with racially discriminating against him and his friends. The following video explains what is a rather convoluted set of circumstances during a recent flight from Miami to Los Angeles.
According to the report, Derulo and an unspecified number of travel mates were en route to Los Angeles, a trek that meant checking 19 bags.
Like we said, Derulo and his entourage don't skimp when it comes to packing. However, this is when things got a little heated. One member of the party stayed behind to see that all of the bags were checked, allowing Derulo and other members to board the plane, free in the knowledge that their belongings would also make the trip.
We will skip over the fact that Derulo has a friend or employee he can task with bag watch and head on over to more pertinent details.
People.com explains: "The singer says he was on the plane, getting ready to depart, when he received a call from his friend saying that American Airlines wanted to charge $4,000 for their bags. He explains, 'We'd never paid for our bags because of our status-with all of our miles-so we'd never paid for bags. So $4,000 is obviously a huge sum. We were like, 'No, we're not paying that. We've got to turn the plane around.'"
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People.com cites an American statement about this particular flight as to what happened next in our unfolding drama: "(The plane) 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."
The Derulo party left the plane but not before what he claims was a severe admonishment from the captain.
The 27-year-old singer states that the captain really let him and his friends have it: "And that was really upsetting to me because I felt like he was trying to make it seem like we were delinquents, and he was kicking us off the plane, when it was us that asked to get off the plane. I was like, 'Listen, sir, you're not going to talk down to me; I'm not your son. Don't talk to me in that tone of voice.'"
Derulo posted the above Instagram, which states: "(American) I spent millions on your airline throughout the past ten years between myself and my entire staff but have still experienced racial discrimination today at Miami airport!!! Called 15 police officers on me as if I'm a criminal!
It's not ok that when you find out who I am the gears change!"
According to Derulo, 15 officers were called to the area, something he believes happened because of the color of his skin. He explains to People.com: "As you can imagine, I'm surrounded by 15 police officers, I'm not going to curse back because I know what's going to happen. So I pick up my phone, and I go live on my Instagram."
Derulo continues, stating that the mood shifted when it became clear he was a celebrity: "So I go live, and I start to hear whispers happening, and as soon as they find out who I am, everything changes. Every single person becomes somebody else, and all of a sudden, we're not in trouble anymore."
While the case is closed, Miami-Dade Police Department has a report on the incident. It features claims such that Derulo and party "smelled of marijuana and were getting aggressive."
The report also claims the party did not hand over identification to staff and were also hesitant to do so with officers who showed up to the kerfuffle.
After all that, one is left to wonder is about the status of those 19 very expensive bags apparently worth all that trouble.
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