George Pimentel/WireImage.comIf you ask Kelis, racism is alive and well in Great Britain.
The R&B songstress took to her Twitter page and launched into a pretty scathing tirade against a fellow passenger who allegedly called her a "slave" as she got on the passport control line with her 2-year-old son at London's Heathrow airport yesterday.
No, this wasn't an episode of ABC News' What Would You Do?
"[He thought I] cut the line. Which wouldn't be far-fetched of me but this time I actually didn't (not entirely anyway)," Kelis tweeted. "Well the point is from 0 to 60 this fat red faced sweaty 'man'…started calling me a slave and told me to call him sir and how I was probably a disgusting nigerian."
"He called me kunta kinte," she noted, referring to the central character of Alex Hailey's acclaimed novel Roots, "and ranted and raved some more. The man behind the passport desk laughed, shook his…head in agreement I guess, and said 'kunta kinte."
According to Kelis, more than 50 people witnessed the outburst and said nothing about the stranger, who she described as a fiftysomething Englishman.
"We all no I ain't no saint, so I retaliated. Not the way I wanted to," Kelis said, "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. Sposed to be."
The "Milkshake" singer then mused about the melting pot that's supposed to be the U.K., especially in light of last month's shocking riots that rocked the country.
"I didn't say anything at the time of ther riots in London for a lot of reasons," she vented. "But I am in London all the time and today I'm gonna say that the racial issues in the uk are disgusting. It's racially decades behind progression because everything is swept under the rug. People don't talk about it. People don't fight about it."
The 32-year-old Kelis, full name Kelis Rogers, concluded her rant by saying the least she can do is teach her son about racism "because it's out there."
A rep for the hitmaker was unavailable for comment.