Qantas backs legal action vs will.i.am

Australia’s Qantas on Mon

racism from Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am, with the airline saying it would back legal action against the Black Eyed Peas frontman.

The multiple Grammy-winning artist

- dant and named her on Twitter after she called the police over an altercation

In his tweets, the star said the crew member had been “overly aggressive” and unnecessarily escalated the situation after he didn’t hear an

was wearing headphones.

Using the hashtag #RacistFlightAttendant, he said she was “beyond rude” and “took it to the next level

were waiting

for him when the

“Thank god the other passengers tweeted William Adams, better known by his stage name will.i.am, adding

He said he had complied “quickly & politely” with instructions from the woman to put his laptop away.

“I don’t want to believe she racist. But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour,” he wrote.

A spokesman for the Australian

rejected the suggestion that race was a factor in the incident.

“There was a misunderstanding on board, which seems to have been exacerbated by will. i. am wearing noise-cancelling headphones and not being able to hear instructions from crew,” he said.

The airline initially said over the weekend that it would be “following up with will.i.am and wish him well for the rest of the tour.”

But on Monday a spokesman said the airline would be willing to support legal action against the star.