British singer Morrissey said in an interview published on Wednesday that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer “put his finger down my rear cleavage” during a recent trip from the San Francisco International Airport.
Morrissey has accused the San Francisco TSA worker, who he has not named, of sexual assault after an incident he described in a July blog post on his website.
He said in an interview with Larry King published on Wednesday that the TSA worker touched him inappropriately after he had already been through one of the agency’s X-ray machines.
{mosads}”I had been through the full scanner and I had been through the second bit, so everything was fine and clear, and then he went straight for my private bits and then he put his finger down my rear cleavage,” Morrissey said.
TSA officials have said that they are looking into Morrissey’s complaint.
“TSA takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and strives to treat every passenger with dignity and respect,” TSA spokesman Mike England said in a statement provided to The Hill after Morrissey’s blog post was published.
“Upon review of closed circuit TV footage, TSA determined that the supervised officer followed standard operating procedures in the screening of this individual,” England continued.
The former lead singer of the 1980s band The Smiths said in the interview with Larry King that the TSA worker told him “it’s just your opinion” when he complained about the alleged inappropriate touching.
“He said it four times,” Morrissey said. “The people I was with — the [British] Special Services, said this is assault. And he said, ‘Well that’s just your opinion.'”
Morrissey said he did not expect to receive a response to his complaint about the TSA worker because he said the U.S. airport security agency is “above the law.”
“Yes I filled in a complaint and so forth [but nothing happened],” he added.