The 59-year-old spoke to TMZ in detail about the incident which took place earlier this week. The Kingston, Jamaica-born musical artist, had previously documented the aftermath of the incident on her Instagram account.

She explained to the outlet that while she’d paid for an extra seat to accommodate a knee injury she is living with, airline staff sought to get her to give up one of her seats. Pepa said she purchased two seats to give herself extra space for an injured knee, but wasn’t wearing her protective brace when a flight attendant accosted her over the extra seat.

Quickly after, a man popped up asking Pepa for her extra seat, claiming he was en route to a funeral. According to TMZ, when Pepa asked him eye-to-eye to confirm the funeral story was true his lip quivered and he refused to do so. which she took to mean he was lying.

Pepa said that she tried to explain to the flight attendant that she had specifically bought the extra seat to alleviate potential pain she might suffer as result of her injury. “I was like, “Oh no this seat is taken, I have this seat as well,” and he was like, “No you don’t, we’re gonna give this seat away” and I’m like, “No you’re not, cause I’ve always done this,”‘ Pepa said. “I’ve always purchased two seats, if I need it, for my leg to have extra leg room because of my injury to my knee”