South African opera star furious over Paris airport treatment

"a French police source said the singer had arrived from Milan on a South African passport without a visa"

Many countries require a transit visa if there is a layover, and the visa requirements are different for different nationalities so maybe this was the issue.

Celebrities often have a sense of entitlement.

Having said that, I am not insinuating that no racism was involved here. A person of color arriving at Paris airport without a visa would raise an alarm for sure, and if it was not a person of color they may have treated it as an honest mistake.