Nelly and the Not-So-Friendly Skies

Wed., Jun. 13, 2001 1:45 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

It looks like Professor Nelly, skilled in the art of Country Grammar, wants to give some TWA employees a lesson in old-school civility.

After a not-so-friendly confrontation in the skies, the 23-year-old hip-hopster has lodged a complaint against Trans World Airlines claiming he was discriminated against by airline employees because he is black.

The alleged incident took place June 9, after Nelly, accompanied by his entourage, boarded a flight from his hometown of St. Louis to Denver.

According to his complaint, the Grammy-nominated rap star, who had a first class ticket (his entourage sat in coach), requested a pillow from a flight attendant, but she refused to get him one. An argument ensued and Nelly said he decided to get up and look for a pillow himself when the captain entered the cabin and ordered him to take his seat or else face arrest once they landed.

The flight attendant eventually found Nelly two pillows, but that wasn't the end of the incident, according to the rapper's complaint. Once the plane arrived at Denver International Airport, police officers were waiting for him at the gate. Nelly told the Associated Press that when he and his pals tried to find out the name of the pilot to file a grievance with the airline, security threatened to take him into custody if he didn't leave the gate immediately.

"The way it escalated was a result of me being a black man," Nelly said.

(Maybe Nelly should have flown to New York to attend Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit, which is addressing this very subject).

A TWA spokeswoman would not comment on the complaint, pending an investigation by the airline's attorneys. However, the company issued a statement defending its crew and disputing Nelly's version of events.

"This individual's behavior was such that the captain felt it necessary to leave the cockpit and direct him to return to his seat and behave appropriately or else he would be put off the plane," reads the statement.

The St. Louis-based rapper's debut album, Country Grammar, which came out of nowhere last year and soared to number one on the charts, went multiplatinum and earned him two Grammy nods. Meanwhile, Free City, the new album from Nelly's band, the St. Lunatics, debuted at number three on the Billboard pop charts this week.