In this corner… heavily tattooed Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden.
And in this corner… a conservative British Airways flight attendant.
Ding, ding!
It’s not exactly the fight of the century, more like the flight of shame.
According to Nicole Richie’s baby daddy, an airline worker refused to allow him on a flight from Chicago to London unless he covered up his tattoos.
The rocker claims he was flying out of the Windy City a few days ago to film a new music video when a male flight attendant ordered him to hide the body art on his arms.
To be fair, Madden’s tats are not exactly… hmm… discreet, but to be asked to cover up his skin in order to board a flight, well, let’s just say the star didn’t wholly embrace the request.
In fact, Madden was downright peeved.
The outraged rocker reportedly got into it with the flight attendant, but in the end Madden caved, and put on a jacket before boarding the flight.
Once on board the plane Madden tweeted about the incident.
“I really actually am in shock,” Madden wrote.
Madden later gave this update: “I still can’t believe Brit Air discriminated me for tatts. Unheard of. the guy was literally disgusted by me. I’m gonna write a letter!!
Richie’s boy toy also revealed that he was humiliated by the incident, and planned to complain to British Airways execs.
“Yes I covered up to board the BA flight,” Madden wrote on his blog. “I didn’t want to miss it. And honestly I was embarrassed all the people were staring and laughing! It’s not in the rules that I can find. My tatts arent offensive. Looking into it. I havent felt this small since the first time i asked nic out.”
Fast-forward to today. According to reports, the flight attendant, who forced Madden to cover up his tattoos, has been disciplined by his bosses. Reports say British Airways execs are irate about the bad publicity the stunt has caused. Making matter worse, airline execs say they are baffled by the flight attendant’s behavior because there’s nothing in the rulebook about tattoos.
A British Airlines spokesperson told TMZ.com, “We don’t understand why the employee took it upon himself to enforce regulations that don’t exist.”
As for Madden ,he insists that his tattoos are spiritual, and the flight attendant was blatantly discriminatory.
What do you think?