Hoff drowns his sorrows

2006-07-27 13:10

London - The star of the internationally popular US television series Baywatch, David Hasselhoff, was prevented from boarding a British Airways plane for allegedly being drunk, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Witnesses told The Sun newspaper that the actor staggered around the first class departure lounge at London's Heathrow airport at 07:00 on Wednesday.

Hasselhoff, 54, drank bottles of beer and shots of whisky while waiting for a flight to Los Angeles. He then started mumbling to people and tried to lift up a female assistant at the duty free shop, it said.

"He seemed merry. He's a huge fella and the manageress is tiny. He picked her up then put her down," a witness said.

"A passenger asked if he was David Hasselhoff and he said: 'Not at all, you must be mistaken'. He wasn't aggressive, he just had problems standing," the witness said.

BA staff told the actor, who is nicknamed "The Hoff," he was unfit to board the plane and he agreed, the Sun reported.

He told them he was upset about his divorce from Pamela, his wife of 16 years.

Hasselhoff, who played lifeguard Mitch Bucannon in Baywatch and also starred in the 1980s TV show "Knight Rider" was told he could board a later flight.

Two hours later he was carted to a plane on a buggy usually reserved for elderly or infirm passengers.

A BA spokesperson said of the incident: "A male passenger was refused boarding after he was deemed unfit to travel."

Three weeks ago Hasselhoff was accused of being "steaming drunk" at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London and was escorted from the premises by security guards.

- AFP