(Photo: Creative Commons)
Nadine Osman
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan expressed his disappointment at being “detained” by US authorities at Los Angeles International Airport on August 11. It is unclear why he was detained, or for how long.
In 2012, Khan was detained for 90 minutes at the White Plains airport near New York.
In 2009, he was stopped for two hours at Newark airport. He was released after India’s embassy intervened. The experience prompted the 50 year-old to tweet to his 20 million followers that although he fully respects, “security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks.”
The US Ambassador to India, Rich Verma, apologised for the detention tweeting,“Sorry for the trouble at LAX @iamsrk. We are working to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Your work inspires millions, including in the US.”
To which Khan responded, “No trouble sir, respect the protocol & not expecting 2 b above it. It’s just a tad inconvenient. Thx for ur concern.”
Although there was no comment from immigration officials, the US State Department’s Assistant Secretary on South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal, tweeted to Khan, saying she was “sorry for the hassle”, adding that US diplomats also face this situation.
Some Indians wondered why one of Bollywood’s biggest stars is routinely detained at US airports. An Indian Government minister said at the time that this “policy of detention and apology by the US cannot continue”.
US customs and border protection authorities later expressed “profound” apologies for the incident. Khan had later made light of the incident and joked about it. “Whenever I start feeling arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom,” he told a gathering of students at Yale University.