Winehouse denied US visa

The Telegraph

By Daniel Sieradski · February 8, 2008

US officials have denied Amy Winehouse a visa to perform in the United States at the upcoming Grammy Awards, The Times Online reported today.

The US authorities gave no reason for refusing Winehouse a visa, despite a personal plea by the star. She will make her return to the stage from a London studio instead. She promised not to blow the "second chance" she has been given to perform in front of millions of US television viewers.

It is assumed that Whinehouse has been denied entry due to her drug problem.

Last year, Canadian psychologist Andrew Feldmar (incidentally a Shoah survivor) was permanently barred from entering the United States after a border official Googled his name and turned up an article in a literary journal in which he admitted taking LSD in the 1960s. Mike Milne, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection, told reporters at the time that "Anyone who is determined to be a drug abuser or user is inadmissible [to the United States]."

I suppose at the very least, we can all be grateful this isn't Dubai.