Singer Kelis has accused Britain of being racially backward after claiming she was abused because of her skin colour while queueing at a London airport.

She used her Twitter account to describe her ordeal which saw her clash with a "red faced sweaty man" and being called a "slave", "probably a disgusting Nigerian", and that an official behind the passport desk had laughed and said "Kunta Kinte", the name of a slave in Alex Haley's best selling book about the slave trade, Roots.

Kelis, 32, said none of the other passengers on the plane she had just flown with, who were also queueing, intervened.

She wrote: "I am in London all the time and today I'm gonna say that the racial issues in the uk are disgusting. It's racially [d]ecades behind progression because everything is swept under the rug. People don't talk about it. People don't fight about it."

The singer known for songs including Milkshake said she was travelling back from the Bestival festival on the Isle of Wight where she had been performing.

According to her account on Twitter, Kelis did not lose her temper as she was travelling with her two-year-old son, whom she refers to in her postings as the "midget".

She said the man believed Kelis had pushed in. The singer wrote: "We just landed and I had the midget with me. we get in the passport control line and apparently pissed this one man off cause he thought I cut the line. Which wouldn't be far fetched of me but this time I actually didn't (not entirely anyway)..."This fat red faced sweaty "man" (I use the word man loosely here) started calling me a slave and told me to call him sir and how I was probably a disgusting nigerian. He called me kunta kinte and ranted and raved some more. The man behind the passport desk laughed, shook his Head in agreement I guess, and said 'kunta kinte'. All the while the entire line full of people I just sat on a plane with for almost 3 hours.

"Over 50 people said nothing. I mean literally nothing. Didn't flinch. We all no I'm no saint, so I retaliated. Not the way I wanted to Or how that pig deserved. But #1 my gorgeous baby boy was literally sitting on my hip and #2 I'm a believer. And we are better. Sposed to be..

"This person was aprox a 50 year old english man. I didn't say anything at the time of the riots in London For a lot of reasons. But I am in london all the time and today I'm gonna say that the racial issues in the UK are disgusting.

"It's racially decades behind progression because everything is swept under the rug. People don't talk about it. People don't fight about it.

"Not mentioning a problem doesn't make it go away. I bring it up now because as an american it is abundantly clear that my country has a Smorgas board (spelling?) Of disgusting racial problems. We are the poster child for racial inequality even still with a black president But its NO SECRET! And that I can fight against. I can try to prepare and teach my son. Because its out there. But you can't fight for or Against something no one is willing to talk about or even admit exist."