Blue singer and former Strictly Come Dancing star Lee Ryan has been found guilty of racially aggravated assault.
The court heard how Ryan had become intoxicated before boarding a flight from Glasgow to London City Airport on July 31 last year. He then attempted to upgrade his seat before making racially aggravated comments towards a black cabin crew officer.
Police footage also showed the singer swearing at officers and biting one of them. He has been found guilty of being drunk on an aircraft, assaulting a police officer by biting him, racially aggravated common assault by beating and behaving in an abusive way towards the cabin crew member.
Giving evidence, flight attendant Leah Gordon told Ealing Magistrates' Court that Ryan's comments about her skin colour had left her feeling "intimidated".
"He was making comments about my complexion, 'you’re my chocolate darling, my chocolate cookie, and I’m going to have your chocolate children'," Gordon told the court (via The Guardian).
"It felt like he was saying I was beautiful for a black person because of the way he was describing my colour."
She added: "I was intimidated … To get comments about my colour whether intentional or not, it was just unacceptable and so derogatory. I just felt like it wasn’t fair and I shouldn’t have to put up with it. I don’t go to work to be assaulted or harassed."
Ryan told the court that he had been drinking port and eating cheese while waiting for his flight which had been delayed. The singer added that he had become annoyed by a fellow passenger asking about the book he was reading but had no recollection of events which happened after that.
"I’m sorry. My band member is black, I’m not racist, I’ve had black girlfriends, mixed-race girlfriends. It was banter, just drunk banter I suppose, there was no malice or intention to upset anyone," he said while giving evidence.
"I didn’t mean to cause any distress to anyone or be racist, it was just a poor choice of words I suppose."
Ryan is due to be sentenced on February 24.
If you've been affected by racism and racist hate crime, then organisations including the Equality and Advisory Support Service (EASS), the Monitoring Group, Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) and Stop Hate UK are among those which can offer help and support.
