Blue singer Lee Ryan suffers leg injury after being pushed down stairs for putting his feet on plane seats
9 July 2023, 11:04
Blue singer Lee Ryan was pushed down some stairs, hurting his leg, by an irate fellow passenger after putting his feet on the seats of a plane.
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Ryan, 40, was on a flight from Georgia to Istanbul on Saturday with his bandmates, Blue said in a statement.
The band said that Ryan "put his feet on the seat, which was considered culturally insensitive" and he had "apologised for any unknowing offence caused".
His bandmates, Simon Webbe, Duncan James and Antony Costa, defended the singer during the incident.
Blue said in a post on their Instagram page: "While on a flight from Georgia to Istanbul, Turkey with Turkish Airlines today (July 8), Lee Ryan was physically assaulted by a male passenger.
Read more: Blue star Lee Ryan banned from driving for six months
"Lee and the rest of the band, defended him from the attack, which continued after the plane had landed when the passenger pushed Lee down a flight of stairs causing an injury to his leg.
"Both parties were spoken to by the police in Turkey and to which Lee voluntarily gave a victim statement supported by the band.
"Lee was not at any point arrested, detained or charged with any offence and after giving his statement, was free to continue his journey.
"The assault occurred after Lee had put his feet on the seat which was considered culturally insensitive and for which Lee has apologised for any unknowing offence caused. Blue."
Turkish Airlines has been approached to comment.
It comes after Ryan withdrew a guilty plea to drunkenly assaulting a police officer during his arrest for abusing a black flight attendant.
He told a black flight attendant "I want your chocolate children" and asked her to kiss him while drunk on the plane.
The singer was "slurring his words and staggering around" after drinking a whole bottle of port before a British Airways flight from Glasgow to London City Airport on July 31 last year.
Police footage showed Ryan "snarling" and swearing after allegedly trying to bite a Pc as officers tried to arrest him at the airport.
He was found guilty at Ealing Magistrates' Court in January of racially aggravated common assault by beating and behaving in an abusive way towards the cabin crew member.
Ryan pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer by biting him but at Westminster Magistrates' Court in June, the singer was told it would be "unjust" for him not to be allowed to withdraw the guilty plea after he claimed to have received bad advice from his solicitor.
A decision on whether Ryan will face a trial will be made later this month.
