Shah Rukh Khan Detention In USA Proves Racism Is Still Alive


Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who also goes by the name King Khan, was again detained at Los Angeles Airport.

According to Variety, the 50-year-old Khan was detained at LAX for the third time. There was, however, no explanation from US Customs and Border Protection as to why the Indian superstar was stopped at the International Airport.

“I fully understand and respect security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks,” he said on Twitter. The US has been trying to build a good economic partnership with India, and has been a home to a large population of immigrants from the subcontinent — immediately took to their social media to control the damage.

The U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, took to his Twitter handle and wrote the following.

Responding to Verma’s tweet, the Indian actor said, “No trouble sir, respect the protocol & not expecting 2 b above it. It’s just a tad inconvenient. Thx for ur concern.”

Apart from Khan, his fans also took to Twitter to share their outrage against the racial discrimination in the USA for the Indian, and especially for Indian Muslims.

Well, this is not the first time when Khan was not allowed to enter in the USA.

It was back in 2009 when Khan was in the U.S. to promote his film, My Name Is Khan, which details the racial profiling of Muslims after 9/11 attacks. After the incident, Khan had sought to downplay the unfortunate procedure at Newark airport and later stated that he never asked for any apology from the U.S. officials.

According to CNN, that time Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the reporters that the Indian government will talk with the U.S. government to make sure that such incidents will not happen in future.

“We will take the issue with the United States government strongly. Such incidents involving Indians due to their religion or nationality should not happen… we will not accept it.”

After that incident, he was again detained in 2012. According to Rediff, Khan was accompanied by Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, while they were on their visit to Yale University.

[Photo by Steffen Kugler/Getty Images]
According to the sources, Mrs. Ambani and the others were cleared immediately, but the Chennai Express star was asked to stop and was given clearance only after about 2 hours.

“Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kicked the star out of stardom,” Khan said to the Yale students after the incident.

Khan is a giant in India, with roles that are crafted especially for him. His earlier release, Dilwale, in which he shared the screen with his Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge co-star Kajol Devgn, earned $4.5 million in North America, while his 2013 released film, Chennai Express, earned more than $5 million.

Khan is apparently not the only Indian who has been detained by the USA. In 2003, the then-Indian Defense Minister, George Fernandes, was strip-searched in Washington Dulles International Airport, and in 2009, Bollywood actor Neil Nitin Mukesh was also detained at a New York airport.

In professional endeavors, Khan just wrapped Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi, in which he will be seen playing the role of Alia Bhatt’s mentor, who teaches her about relationships.

[Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for DIFF]
After Dear Zindagi, Khan’s most awaited movie, Raees, is scheduled to release, in which he will be playing the role of a bootlegger whose business is highly challenged and eventually destroyed by a police officer. The film is slated to release on January 26, 2017.

[Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for DIFF]

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