Bebe Rexha claims a security officer “threatened” her for speaking Albanian in an emotional new video, posted to her Instagram Story on Saturday.
Sharing footage of herself sobbing with her 11.9 million followers, the 34-year-old singer explained she was emotional after reportedly being banned from boarding her flight from Munich Airport on Lufthansa.
“I was threatened because I thought the security guard was Albanian. I spoke to him in Albanian and asked him where I could get my ticket, and now he is forbidding me from boarding the flight,” she said.
In a second video, which she took after the incident, Rexha recorded herself crying, before going into detail about what happened.
“I believe this is a hate crime because I am Albanian,” she wrote in a statement. “He did not allow me to say his name. He continued to psychologically abuse me to make me feel that I was more powerful than I was.”
Bebe Rexha claims a security officer “threatened” her for speaking Albanian in an emotional new video, posted to her Instagram Story on Saturday.
She continued: ‘None of the women at @Lufthansa intervened or said anything. She didn’t give me her name. But I just found out that she works for ATSG, a document control services company contracted by Lufthansa.’
Rexha then went on to repost a plea from another Instagram user asking for the singers to be returned “home safely” from Munich airport and for “the officer who threatened a woman to be investigated” for speaking Albanian.
The New York-born artist, of Albanian and North Macedonian descent, was born in Brooklyn and moved to nearby Staten Island when she was six years old.
His father, Flamur, was born in Debar, North Macedonia, when it was part of Yugoslavia, and emigrated to the United States when he was 21.
His mother, who also has Albanian roots, was born in the United States.
Rexha’s legal name, Bleta, translates to “bee” in the Albanian language.
She has previously revealed that from a young age, her mother and father began calling her by her nickname, Bebe.
The four-time Grammy nominee’s posts come just a month after she revealed she’s “fed up” with the music industry in a series of passionate tweets.
The star also claimed that she “could take down a HUGE part of this industry” with her information, which she did not divulge as she stated her frustration.
Sharing footage of herself sobbing with her 11.9 million followers, the 34-year-old singer explained she was emotional because the man reportedly banned her from “flying” on Lufthansa airline.
“I was threatened because I thought the security officer was Albanian. I spoke to him in Albanian and asked where I could get my ticket, and now he is banning me from boarding the flight,” she said.
“I believe this is a hate crime because I am Albanian,” she wrote in a statement. “He did not allow me to say his name. He continued to psychologically abuse me to make me feel that I was more powerful than I was.”
“I have been UNDERMINED. I have been very quiet for a long time. I haven’t seen the signs even though people constantly mention them and they have been SO OBVIOUS,” she wrote in a post shared on X.
She continued: “And when I have spoken out, I have been silenced and PUNISHED by this industry. Things need to change or I will tell ALL my truths. The good, the bad and the ugly.”
The singer, who rose to fame after helping write Eminem’s hit single The Monster in 2013, returned to the platform to clarify that her post “wasn’t just coming from a place of anger.”
“It’s so sad. I’m sitting in my hotel room in London crying my eyes out,” she wrote. “I’ve been feeling hopeless for a long time. I’ve been walking around this city a lot and meeting my fans, and they’ve really sparked something inside me.”
In response to a fan’s question beneath the post: “What happened again?”, Rexha replied: “Again? You haven’t even heard 5 percent of it. You have NO IDEA.”
When asked who prevented him from speaking, the musician replied: “THEY PUNISH YOU.”
The New York-born artist, of Albanian and North Macedonian descent, was born in Brooklyn and moved to nearby Staten Island when she was six; seen in April 2024
After one X user suggested that Rexha was going out of her way to improve her outfit for her new single, I’m the Drama, she responded: “IM SICK OF IT.”
Throughout her career, Rexha has written songs for Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, Iggy Azalea, Florida Georgia Line, Tate McRae, Mickey Guyton and more.