Will.i.am explains airport anger about his real name

WENN, Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 12:07am (PST)

Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am has laughed off reports he hates immigration officers at airports calling him by his real name - insisting the story got "flipped."

RELATED VIDEO: Will.i.am and Fergie prep for the Super Bowl

The rapper's original name is William James Adams, but he changed his catchy moniker after embarking on a hip-hop career.

In a recent interview, he revealed he got "hostile" when airport security didn't understand that his name was no longer Williams Adams, saying, "Not even my family call me William. And only government officials or border guards ever give it to me with the full Mr William Adams. But that's not me. It might say that on the paperwork but that ain't me. I'm will.i.am. If anyone says different, then I can get quite hostile."

RELATED: Learn all about Black Eyed Peas on MSN Music

But the star insists he only gets angry when he is mistaken for a certain William James who always flags up on airport security.

He tells Britain's Daily Star, "I saw the headline saying I can get quite hostile if I'm called William Adams and that's nonsense.

"I'm never hostile and I ain't ashamed of the name on my birth certificate. I get stopped at the airport, and a ton of people are called William Adams, right?

"But there's one other William James Adams that the airport security always mistake me for. So I said: 'No, I'm not THAT William James Adams.' That story got flipped."

RELATED: Does Obama listen to the Black Eyed Peas?