Most people seem to think that gospel singer Bobbi Storm’s behavior was wrong. At least, that’s what they’re saying in the comments of a video that surfaced over the weekend showing a Delta Airlines employee threatening to remove the Grammy-nominated singer from a flight.
While it’s unclear what flight they’re on or what city they’re in, what is clear is that at the beginning of the video, Storm is standing in the middle of the aisle telling the flight attendant that she is “charting right now on the Billboards,” but the flight attendant tells her to “sit down and be quiet.”
While she returns to her seat, she turns to the back of the plane and says, “I just found out that I’m up for two Grammys. My very first time, you guys.” As her fellow passengers applaud, she explains that she contributed to the song “We Can’t Forget Him” on the album “The Maverick Way,” which was nominated for the Best Gospel Album.
Then, the flight attendant interrupts her by asking, “Are you able to be quiet?” She tells him that people are enjoying her speech to which he replies: “I am not enjoying it, so I’m asking you can you please be quiet.”
For the remainder of their interaction, the two have a polite yet circular discussion about whether she’s able to be quiet. She avoids providing a direct answer and he suggests she must comply because he’s a “flight leader.” After the flight attendant walks away, Storm announces to the surrounding passengers that she’ll sing in a low voice and begins to sing. When she’s done, she plugs her album.
The video, which Storm shared on her Instagram channel, has generated more than 6,300 comments. Some of the most popular comments describe Storm as “egotistical,” a “narcissist,” and “inconsiderate.” In a comment that received more than 1,000 likes, the commenter wrote: “You held these people hostage and used God’s name in a manipulative manner. That man was just doing his job and you were being disruptive, period.”
Storm addressed the comments, writing that “no laws’ were broken and she had in fact sang on more than 50 flights in the past. She added that she wanted to sing because she “felt a pull in my spirit.” She said she saw the opportunity presented itself because they were waiting for crews to address a maintenance issue, so people were actually able to deplane. “[T]hat flight attendant really was out of order and did not have the authority to do what he was threatening,” she wrote.
In another video, Storm said that a Delta executive reached out to her about the incident and apologized to her. She added that she didn’t think the flight attendant should be “reprimanded” but she hoped he did “learn a valuable lesson about how to treat people.”
According to reports, Delta confirmed that it had been in contact with Storm and added, “For the safety of our customers and crew, it’s always important to follow crew instructions.”