Death threats after singing on the plane

A Canadian singer, Jessica Pearson, who sang to passengers of a plane stuck at Keflavík International Airport for hours at the end of January, has released a statement regarding the death threats she has received in the wake of the video going viral.

A video of the singing act of Jessica and her band on Icelandair’s plane went viral all over the internet, including on TikTok, on February 1st.

“On Feb 1st, that video went viral with a narrative that the girls arbitrarily decided to sing for stranded passengers on a plane for 10 hours. This false narrative incited a swift negative response and the hate escalated to a level of death threats. The video was taken down in response. Someone mistook the video thinking Jessica and her pals had, by their own accord, started singing on the plane and kept it on for ten hours,” Jessica's statement reads.

She wants to correct that misunderstanding.

The internet trolls came out

This fallacious story caused a violent reaction and the hate developed into threats of death. The video was then taken down. She published it on TikTok and signed it.

“We were stuck on the plane in Iceland for ten hours because of the 115 km. – Thankfully, we had our instruments on board and decided to start a big singing band.”

After waiting for six hours in the stationary aircraft, the captain asked Jessica and her companions to play some songs. They were delighted and praised for this.

Applauded by the passengers

“I am shocked and discouraged that a shared moment of joy has been turned into a vicious attack. The sheer level of hate is incomprehensible. I was told to kill myself because I played songs for people on a plane. That’s insane,” Jessica is quoted as saying in the statement.

It specifies that she is a professional musician and respected in the music community, in Canada and elsewhere.

After passengers got off the plane, Jessica and her companions were applauded, videotaped and given chocolate as a token of appreciation.

“It was a beautiful memory that passengers and crew members made together, because the music connects us all. That’s what the story is all about,” concludes the statement.

Icelandair posted the video on their Facebook page the day after the incident and received a positive response.

 

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