Singer Bo Bice is speaking out after he claims he was the victim of racist behavior while visiting a Popeyes at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia last week.
Bice, 41, had placed his order at the fast food chain and when one of the employees went to give it to a different person, the singer claims her co-worker said: ‘He already got his, that white boy there.’
The worker who said ‘white boy’ has now been suspended after Bice complained on his social media accounts about her, and even posted a photo of the two women working along with the name of one of his Facebook page.
Facebook later took that post because it violated their policy against bullying, which states that ages cannot ‘identify and shame private individuals.’
In an interview after the incident with Fox 5, Bice broke down in tears while speaking about what he claims is racial prejudice.
Through his tears he said: ‘And the fact that I have to come on TV and calm down a notch, and look like a petty little brat by tweeting and Facebooking this just to open up dialogue so we can have an adult conversation is ridiculous.’
Bice, who was runner-up on the fourth season of American Idol, then pointed directly at the camera and said: ‘America, you should be ashamed.’
Hurt: Bo Bice (above) was called ‘white boy’ at a Popeyes while travelling through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia last week
Breaking down: The American Idol finalist (above crying), who finished behind Carrie Underwood in the show’s fourth season, took a photo of the worker and posted it on his social media
Revealing: The 41-year-old father of four labeled the young woman a ‘racist’ (above ion photo posted by Boice) and said he was discriminated against , demanding an apology from Popeyes
In his initial account of the incident on Facebook, Bice also claimed that the woman in question mocked his name for ‘5 minutes straight,’ calling him ‘Bow-Bow, Boo- Boo, and Bo-Bo.’
He also took issue when they laughed after the woman referred to him as ‘that white boy.’
That was enough for Bice to label the women working that day as ‘racist,’ and demand an apology from Popeyes after claiming he faced discrimination while being served at the chain.
Facebook deleted the post soon after however because it did not follow their standards.
They did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com about the reason behind that decision.
Bice responded to that by taking a screenshot of the post and putting it up as two photos, writing about how he was ‘tired of the racist double standards that have infested our society’ in a new post about the incident.
‘All I wanted was an apology… Now, Popeyes’s will be hearing from my attorney, and to all you FB fans of mine, I’ll be deleting this communist media platform from my devices and life,’ wrote Bice.
‘You took CORPORATE POPEYE’S side Facebook, but you should have checked the validity of their complaint. You cannot stifle my opinion and TRUTHS without it being seemingly one sided.
‘Read trough the post and show me where my words meet the rules that FB has in place for removing posts.’
He later added: ‘[T]his is the behavior that is running rampant in our society and these sites and companies silence what they don’t want people to know about and they are the ones who are running the show.’
Bice made these comments despite the fact that a franchise manager from Popeye’s had in fact called him a day after the incident to apologize.
He also has not in fact deleted Facebook from his devices, with his page still very much active on the social media site.
Better times: Bice finished as the runner up of the fourth season of American Idol, behind Carrie Underwood (above at finale with Ryan Seacrest)
First post: Facebook later deleted the post for violating their standards, which led to Bice saying: ‘I’ll be deleting this communist media platform from my devices and life’ (deleted post above)
He then followed up his second Facebook post with the Fox interview, in which he again complained about not receiving an apology.
‘If tables had been turned and I used something as insensitive like that, I would be boycotted, there would be people noy buying my my albums, there’d be people coming and picketing at my shoes, and everything else,’ said Bice.
He also said that he was ‘not a racist’ and ‘not a bigot’ in the interview, this despite retweeting a negative comment about the Black Lives Matter movement after the Popeyes incident.
That tweet read: ‘EPIC RANT exposes the HYPOCRISY of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.’
That same day he also retweeted a comment that said it was the Arab people that stole Israel’s land.
Both of those retweets also came after Bice wrote in his first post: ‘Unlike Popeye’s I don’t discriminate against people. Not for any reason, not because of their religious affiliation (or absence of), ethnicity, social status, politics of anything else.’
Family: Bo and his wife Caroline with their four children on Mother’s Day in 2016
Not a fan: Shortly after the incident, Bice retweeted a video that claimed to show the hypocrisy of the Black Live Matter movement (above)
The interview with Fox led to Bice getting another apology as well, with the group that manages that particular location Mack II, saying: ‘The company does not condone the behavior of one of our associates and we took corrective action as soon as we were made aware of the incident.
‘Also, we will require re-training of our associates to ensure this isolated incident does not occur again.’
Bice finished behind Carrie Underwood in hi season of American Idol and is now the lead singer in a Blood, Sweat and Tears touring band.
He and his wife Caroline have four children under the age of 11, three sons and a daughter.
The family resides in Georgia.