The Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am has accused a Qantas flight attendant of being “racist” and “beyond rude” to him during a flight from Brisbane to Sydney.

The rapper was met by police at Sydney airport on Saturday after he clashed with the flight attendant, who he claims was “overly aggressive” to him because he couldn’t hear her through his noise-cancelling headphones.

“I’m sorry to say me and my group have experienced they (sic) worse service due to a overly aggressive flight attendant... I don’t want to believe she racist. But she has clearly aimed all her frustrations only at the people of colour,” he tweeted.

“Is calling the police on a passenger for not hearing the PA due to wearing noise cancelling headphones appropriate?”

In subsequent tweets, the rapper used the hashtag #racistflightattendant, named the woman and shared an image of her and an Australian federal police officer.

“.@Qantas Your #RacistFlightattendant was beyond rude & took it to the next level by calling the police on me. thank god the other passengers testified that SHE was out of Control the police finally let me go. Imagine if the police were as aggressive as (the flight attendant),” he wrote.

Others on board the flight took to Twitter to corroborate the rapper’s account.

But Qantas “completely reject” the allegation that the incident had anything to do with race.

“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,” a spokesman said in a statement.

“We’ll be following up with will.i.am and wish him well for the rest of the tour.”

will.i.am was in Australia with the Black Eyed Peas as part of the band’s 2019-20 world tour and performed in Homebush on Saturday night.

On Sunday Australian pop duo The Veronicas, comprised of Lisa and Jess Origliasso, supported will.i.am’s claims. The pair said they were kicked off a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney in September, and at the time Qantas issued a statement saying they were removed from the flight for failing to follow staff instructions, which is a safety risk.

The Veronicas tweeted on Sunday that the same Qantas staff member accused by will.i.am ordered them off the plane.

“We feel sickened she was given no reprisal and has instead continued to abuse her position, discriminate and misuse the full force and intimidation of the Australian Federal Police to her agenda,” they tweeted.

However in response to The Veronicas’ tweet, a Qantas spokesman said “simply, it’s not true”.