No visa, no work: Why celebrities are suddenly terrified of Trump

Telegraph

18-06-2025

Earlier this year I interviewed a well-known British pop star who made some vaguely disparaging comments about the US president. Nothing particularly odd about that – liberal-leaning artists (i.e. most of them) have always tended to speak their minds.
But no sooner had this person's comments filtered up the chain of command – from their publicist to their manager – than a message came back. 'Probably better it's not in the article,' said the manager, who has a decades-long reputation for not giving a fig about upsetting anyone. I obliged, largely because I found the comments tasteless and tangential to the matter in hand. Yet the incident was telling: people in the creative industries are desperate not to upset the Trump administration for fear that they'll be denied a visa, and therefore entry, into the potentially lucrative country. And musicians, actors and writers – and their teams – are taking pre-emptive action.
My pop star's manager is not the only one. Last month Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk – a man who in the past has appeared to criticise Trump with little prompting – was asked in a Telegraph interview about parallels between the president and one of the characters in his grizzly South Korean drama. 'I have to visit the United States quite often and you know how they are getting trickier issuing their visas… So why don't we return to this subject after [Trump] has left office?' Hwang said.
Other big names are equally aware of the situation. In March, the Liverpool-born Harry Potter and White Lotus actor Jason Isaacs said that although he has a US work visa, he was unsure whether his 'clear dislike' for the president would affect his ability to work there. In general, the chorus of disapproval that stars voiced during Trump's first term has fallen noticeably silent.
The issue of US visas and the arts re-entered the news today when Liam O'Hanna, a rapper who goes by the stage name Mo Chara in controversial Belfast hip-hop group Kneecap, appeared at Westminster magistrates' court on a terror charge after allegedly displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a London gig last year. Kneecap are due to play a sold out US tour in October. O'Hanna, who has denied the charge, was released on unconditional bail until a further appearance in August. Legally, Kneecap can still go the US. But will they be allowed in?
Kneecap aside (and we'll come back to them), music promotors say working visas are already hard to get.'Visas for America are a major issue. Getting them has definitely got worse, and more expensive,' one high-profile tour promoter tells me. 'They're just making it really difficult.'
US immigration officials and officers are known to search publicly available information about potential visitors, including their social media and online profiles. These searches can take place either when a visa is being applied for or at an airport on arrival. Electronic devices can be confiscated and searched. An author friend tells me that he's been advised buy to a new laptop rather than risk any contentious manuscripts being found on his old one.
Border control agency the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is principally looking for information regarding a person's planned activities in the US, according to Tamizdat, a Brooklyn-based organisation that helps international artists navigate US visa policies and is a huge advocate of cross-border cultural mobility. 'But if an officer discovers politically sensitive statements in your devices, it is reasonable to assume this will not improve your chances of being admitted to the US,' Tamizdat says on its website.
Earlier this year, three members of punk rock band UK Subs said that they were denied entry and detained on arrival in Los Angeles. Bassist Alvin Gibbs took to Facebook in March to explain that he was questioned at length at LAX after being 'flagged' by the computer system, firstly because he had an 'incorrect visa' and for a second reason he claimed agents wouldn't disclose to him. 'I can't help but wonder whether my frequent, and less than flattering, public comments regarding their president and his administration played a role – or perhaps I'm simply succumbing to paranoia,' Gibbs wrote.
But paranoia may be what's at play here after all. Matthew Covey co-launched Tamizdat and founded law firm CoveyLaw, which last year helped arrange US visas for nearly 1,000 UK artists. Covey says that 'no artist has been denied a visa, detained or deported [under Trump] who would not have been subject to the same process under [former US president] Biden. We have certainly seen denials and we've seen people being turned around at the border, but every one of those follows a well-established fact pattern.' Artists, to date, have not been banned due to their political opinions, the content of their art or their public statements, he reiterates.
'They don't want to be Springsteened'
What has changed among the arts community, Covey says, is a creeping 'fear' about what could happen, given what's happened to academics and students. Earlier in June, an Australian writer and former Columbia University student called Alistair Kitchen was denied entry into the US and sent home due – he claimed – to his writings on the pro-Palestine student protests at Columbia. The CBP denied this, saying Kitchen had 'provided false information on his ESTA [visa waiver] application'.
But creatives are concerned. They don't want to be Springsteened, to coin a phrase. US citizen Bruce Springsteen has been excoriating about Trump on his current European tour, calling the administration 'corrupt, incompetent and treasonous'. Trump, in return, took to his Truth Social platform to call The Boss 'highly overrated' and 'a pushy, obnoxious JERK'.
Neil Young is another case in point. The US-Canadian dual citizen, who will headline Glastonbury next week, is a long-term Trump critic. In April the 79-year-old rocker openly wondered whether he'll be barred from US when he returns from his European tour in August. 'I may be one of those returning to America who is barred or put in jail to sleep on a cement floor with an aluminium blanket. That is happening all the time now,' Young wrote. You can see why some worried Britons are self-censuring.
On top of this, the cost of visas has risen. The cost to a hypothetical British actor obtaining a work visa for a stint on Broadway, including legal fees, has risen from 'under $3,000' three years ago to 'at least $5-6,000' now, Covey says. This latter fee includes 'fast-tracking', which is all-but essential these days.
Add into this the rising cost of living once in the US, and an artist has to be sure that the juice is worth the squeeze. 'I haven't heard of anyone giving up yet,' says the music promoter. 'But I imagine if you're fee isn't that great you'll give up. I think the fees have to be solid enough to make it worth your while to employ the correct visa people to do the work.'
Cost, red tape and paranoia
Covey argues that it is the cumulative impact of cost, red tape and paranoia about potential rejection due to political views that is worrying artists. 'The barriers of entry to the US market were already so high – in terms of cost and administrative lift – that for years many artists have been questioning whether the US is worth the effort. I think that adding fear into the mix is the straw that breaks the camel's back, for many artists,' he says. (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, was approached for comment.)
But the reasonably benign situation could change 'in a heartbeat', says Covey. And that heartbeat might have occurred on Wednesday in the broiling heat of Westminster magistrates' court in central London when Kneecap's O'Hanna appeared. Even if O'Hanna is eventually found guilty, he could, technically, still legally travel to America to perform. This is because while section 2.12(a) of the US's Immigration and Nationality Act can deem anyone with a criminal history ineligible for entry, there is a waiver for this. Meaning the tour could still happen.
🚨🚨North American Tour🚨🚨
We're off to Canada and the US in October for our Smashing Walls Tour!
Tickets: https://t.co/xD4zNTcr3c pic.twitter.com/TMBSQrHOW4
— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 18, 2023
At the time of writing, there is no suggestion that Kneecap's 21-date US tour in October will not going ahead. However, a music industry source is doubtful. 'Realistically, Kneecap would have a major issue with any American tour now. I imagine they're working under the assumption they're going to get turned away,' the source says. (Kneecap was approached for comment.)
There's also a time issue. Visas take months to arrange. Their cause may not be helped by a poster for an earlier 2023 US tour which showed a cartoon of the trio holding a makeshift bomb that bore a distinct resemblance to Donald Trump's head.
Meanwhile, the UK music industry says that it fully backs creative expression. 'Freedom of creative expression is one of the cornerstones of music. Singers and songwriters throughout history have never been afraid to use their voice to protest and bring about positive change,' Tom Kiehl, the chief executive of UK Music, which represents the industry, tells me.