 "SRK is brand ambassador of Reliance Jio")
A frustrated and disappointed Shah Rukh Khan on Friday tweeted about his repeated detention at US airports. The latest incident is said to have taken place at Los Angeles airport where the immigration department detained him.
Khan said on the micro-blogging site that to be detained ‘every damn time’ was really disappointing. The actor seemed to share a light moment later with his next tweet stating that the waiting time helped him ‘catch some pokemons.’
Social media spared no time to comment on the detention.
@sirindiain He should travel #airindia the national carrier will not let this happen to him #shahrukhkhan
— HARIHAR (@hariharr) August 12, 2016
#ShahrukhKhan shud carry sm DVDs of his movie"My name is Khan" so tht US Dept. cud watch n undrstnd "He may overact bt he isn't a Terrorist"
— Rohit Sharma (@imRo45_) August 12, 2016
Playing #Pokemon is dangerous,#ShahRukhKhan was detained at #USA #airportsecurity as suspicious character.
— venkatesh Shankar (@venkatesh4077) August 12, 2016
The issue seems to have settled now, with senior authorities from the US government apologizing to the actor for the inconvenience caused.
However, this is not the first time that the actor has been detained. The actor was detained twice — 2009 and 2012 — at New York and New Jersey. Here’s a list of the actor’s past ordeals with airport authorities.
Questioning at White Plains airport near New York (2012)
Khan was detained at the airport soon after he arrived with Nita Ambani in a private aircraft. He was visiting the country to address students at the Yale University. Ambani and her team had been cleared immediately. Meanwhile, Khan was questioned for over two hours before being given the immigration clearance.
Matters escalated from this point when the university had to contact the Department of Homeland Security and the Immigrations and Customs Department at Washington to speed up processes. Back home, the US embassy in New Delhi issued a formal apology to the actor for the inconvenience caused to him.
Reacting to the incident, Khan had sarcastically said, “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom.”
Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey (2009)
A similar incident had occurred three years before the White Plains episode. The actor was in the country to promote his film, My Name is Khan.
“They kept on telling me that my name is common to some name that has popped up on the computer, so they need to follow procedure. It took them an hour and a half, two hours; they kept on asking me questions, if I could give them any ... numbers in America that they can contact and vouch for me and who I am,” the actor had told CNN-IBN.
Khan is not the only actor to have been detained or searched at the US airport. Over the past few years, apart from Khan, several Indian politicians, including Cabinet ministers, have been searched as well.
1. Southern superstar Mammootty was detained at JFK airport in May 2009. The reason, as per reports, behind the detention was his name in his passport, Muhammad Kutty Ismail.
2. Then Defence minister George Fernandes was searched at Washington Dulles twice during his tenure.
3. Then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel was detained at Chicago airport, creating diplomatic ruckus.
4. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam was searched at New York’s JFK airport in 2011
5. Actor Amir Khan was also detained at Chicago airport in 2002.
