Charly Black is looking to submit a formal complaint against an airline alleging that he was racially profiled. The information was disclosed by his manager Julian Jones-Griffith who confirmed that the deejay is looking to officially explore his options with regard to the treatment that he suffered.
Jones-Griffith spoke with the Jamaica STAR and explained that said diamond-selling dancehall entertainer felt targeted by security personnel at the Newark Airport in New Jersey after they allegedly racially profiled him and his team.
According to the entertainer, he and his team were subjected to a search and were restricted from taking their wallets and mobile phones while boarding a flight to Israel on May 3. The “You’re Perfect” singer also shared his experience with fans via his Instagram Story.
Jones-Griffith also explained that at the time it did not seem possible to take any type of action as it was the head of the airline security that both Charly Black and his team were dealing with. However, following the incident, they have since found out the details for the airline security company and will be lodging a formal complaint.
The STAR also spoke with Black while he was still at the airport where he and his team were scheduled to transit through New Jersey to reach Israel at 2 p.m. on May 4.
Charly Black said that while he was well aware that racism exists he had never experienced it in that way. He claimed that the man conducting the security exercise was doing everything in his power to try and stop him and his team from boarding the flight.
“I have experienced racial profiling before while in Europe but it was never anything close to this. And I’ve never had to deal with this while flying or in an airport at no time in my life or in no other country from any airline or security personnel,” he added.
Black was expected to perform at the Charly Black Live show, which formed part of the 2022 Independence Festival celebrations. He is also no stranger to performing in the country, and in October 2019, he had back-to-back sold-out shows.
While there are no limits to the amount of cash a visitor can bring into Israel, if the amount is over 80,000 New Israeli Shekels, it must be declared. That would be approximately US$23,600, but according to the “Just Do It” singer, they had nothing even close to that amount.
He said that they had just enough money for basic needs like food and water and regular traveling expenses.
“I never had so much money on me none at all, but we agreed to put our wallets and phones which he said we could not travel with in our checked luggage. And even then we were subjected to further questioning and searches in separate rooms for two and a half hours after our flight was to depart,” he added.
He is now back in Jamaica and is incensed that they were basically forced to miss the flight, and nobody has offered a refund or even tried to apologize.
According to Jones-Griffith, they were the only three black people on board. Black has since apologized to his fans in Israel for missing the show.
