Pamela Anderson says she was confronted on plane by angry passenger who thought she was someone else
Pamela Anderson
(CNN) — Pamela Anderson has recounted how she was confronted on board a flight after being mistaken for a member of the country band The Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks.
Speaking about her new movie, “The Last Showgirl,” on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast Tuesday, Anderson told host Josh Horowitz that she was targeted by a fellow passenger.
“This one time, I was on a flight and this guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you know what this country’s done for you?’” the former “Baywatch” star said.
“And I was like, ‘Oh, my God. What have I done?’ I was like, ‘Oh god.’ I looked back and he was (angry). Then this stewardess had to, like, handcuff him to the chair because he was trying to attack me.”
“Yeah. Ended up he thought I was a Dixie Chick. Remember that whole Dixie Chick thing?” Anderson said, referring to virulent criticism of the band after its members spoke out against the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“I almost got killed on a plane,” said Anderson. “I was scared to fly after that, a little bit.”
The Chicks are one of the best-selling female bands and country groups in music history. The band has won 13 Grammys, 10 CMA awards and eight ACM awards.
In 2003, before the invasion of Iraq, lead singer Natalie Maines said at a concert that the group, which got its start in Dallas, did not endorse the war and were “ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”
Their remarks about then-President George W. Bush triggered boycotts and backlash from fans, resulting in country stations across the country pulling the group’s music from the radio.
At the time, in March 2003, CNN reported that “station managers said their decisions were prompted by calls from irate listeners who thought criticism of the president was unpatriotic.”
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CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister and Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.
