Clay Aiken in trouble for sleeping on a plane

Earlier today a "breaking news" item was posted in the Tulsa paper, regarding an incident in which a sleeping Clay Aiken was smacked awake by a woman who was unhappy about his foot being on her armrest. Here's how the story read:

Aiken apparently questioned after airplane incident


By World Staff
7/7/2007 5:52 PM


Former "American Idol" singer Clay Aiken was apparently involved in a disturbance with another passenger Saturday while on an airplane headed to Tulsa International Airport.

The dispute occurred on a Continental Airlines flight between a woman and a man, whom FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson confirmed was a former "American Idol" contestant.

Aiken, who was a runner-up on the TV talent show in 2003, was headed to Tulsa Saturday for a performance at the Brady Theater. His management could not be reached for comment Saturday afternoon.

Johnson said he was told the dispute was over one passenger's feet resting on another passenger's armrest.

Apparently, a former "American Idol" contestant was asleep in his seat and a woman roused him to get him to move his foot, Johnson confirmed. An argument then followed.

There was an allegation that the woman gave the contestant a "minor shove" during the argument, Johnson said.

"At that point the flight crew was able to resolve the situation," he said.

The disturbance occurred Saturday morning, said Tulsa Airport Authority spokeswoman Alexis Higgins.

Higgins said the passengers were held until FBI agents arrived to question them.

No injuries were reported and no arrests were made. The disturbance did not interfere with the flight of the aircraft, Johnson said.

As Aiken was travelling from Houston where he had performed with the Houston Symphony to another night's concert in Tulsa, there were several fans on the commuter flight with him, and the eye-witness reports came in quickly. Here's what was soon posted on one of his message boards:

One of the organizers of the pre-concert event was on the flight and witnessed the kerfuffle. She was questioned and had to sign a witness statement and everything.

According to the people who witnessed it, Clay was asleep with one leg crossed over the other (kind of parallel to floor) and his foot was apparently touching the armrest. The woman hit at his foot and told him to get his foot off her arm. Clay slept through that apparently and she got pissed and started swatting at him and smacking him. He woke up to the woman hitting him.

According to the witness, they were all questioned by authorities after the flight touched down and the woman was "led away" by authorities. They think she was arrested but don't know for sure, just that she was in custody.

Next thing you know, it's on the AP wire, and here's the version they're telling:

Clay Aiken involved in airplane spat

08:46 PM CDT on Saturday, July 7, 2007
Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. – Former American Idol singer Clay Aiken was apparently involved in an airplane disturbance with another passenger Saturday while headed to Tulsa International Airport.

The dispute on a Continental Airlines flight occurred between a woman and a man, whom FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson confirmed was a former American Idol contestant.

Aiken, runner-up on the TV talent show in 2003, was headed to Tulsa for a Saturday performance at the Brady Theater. His management could not be reached for comment on the alleged incident.

Johnson said he was told the dispute was over the male passenger's foot resting on another passenger's armrest. He said the disturbance minor.

There was an allegation that the woman gave the male passenger a "minor shove" during the argument, Johnson said.

"At that point the flight crew was able to resolve the situation," he said.

The disturbance occurred Saturday morning, said Tulsa Airport Authority spokeswoman Alexis Higgins. Higgins said the passengers were held until FBI agents arrived to interview them.

No injuries were reported and no arrests were made. The disturbance did not interfere with the flight of the aircraft, Johnson said.

Agents forwarded the results of their investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which declined to file charges, he said.

Later in the evening, the Tulsa paper had rewritten their version to remove the part about Aiken being asleep, to correspond with the AP story.

Meanwhile, Aiken regaled the Tulsa audience with his version of the story, and was mocked by his backup singers for being "beaten up by a woman." Unfortunately, the fabled video-gathering capacities of the Clay Nation were no match for the eagle-eyed Tulsa security watch, so there will be no You Tube tonight, but the jist of it was that he was asleep and woke up to this woman smacking him. Only Clay could manage to get embroiled in a scandal while sleeping on a plane--or rather, I should say, only the media could manage to get Clay embroiled in a scandal for sleeping on a plane.