Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was detained by US authorities at Los Angeles International Airport early this morning. While the reasons behind his detention were not mentioned, Khan took to social media expressing his exasperation at being detained in the country for the third time.
I fully understand & respect security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks.
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 12, 2016
Soon after his tweet, Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia (U.S. Department of State) and Richard Varma, U.S. Ambassador to India, apologised to the actor via Twitter insisting that while the trouble caused is regretted, even diplomats face extra screening occasionally.
Sorry for the hassle at the airport, @iamsrk – even American diplomats get pulled for extra screening!
— Nisha Biswal (@NishaBiswal) August 12, 2016
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.
— Rich Verma (@USAmbIndia) August 12, 2016
Meanwhile, amid the drama at the airport, Khan found solace in Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game that enables you to catch virtual creatures called Pokemons.
The brighter side is while waiting caught some really nice Pokemons.
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 12, 2016
Khan has a history of getting detained, usually for more than two hours, at airports. Khan was first detained in 2009 by airport authorities at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. His name was featured under an alert list in the computer. Following this, the actor chose to downplay the incident, insisting an apology was not needed.
Khan was detained in the US for the second time in 2012. Khan was in the country to give a lecture at Yale University along with Nita Ambani of Reliance Industries, when he was detained at the White Plains Airport near New York for over two hours by immigration officials. Khan was allegedly detained and hounded with questions about his whereabouts, his skin colour, height, and purpose of visit, for nearly two hours. The deliberate detention triggered Yale University officials to intervene, even speaking to the officials at the Department of Homeland Security in the US.
After the incident at the airport, Khan headed to the University and began his lecture with a sarcastic dig at the US airport authorities: “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kicked the star out of stardom.”