One Direction is in the middle of a big controversy, but could it affect their sold-out U.S. tour that starts in a few months?
A video of two of the One Direction guys allegedly smoking a joint was leaked this week, but it may only be the start of the problems for the band. The video, obtained by Mail Online, showed Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson smoking a joint while on tour in Peru.
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While the drug is illegal in Peru, small amounts are allowed if it’s for personal use and for immediate consumption.
But the 1D boys are about to set off on a sold-out, 39-date nationwide tour of the U.S. in August. The U.S. has been cracking down on entertainers with drug convictions entering the country, and One Direction may very well be affected. A U.S. immigration attorney told Mail Online that if Malik and Tomlinson are convicted, or if they admit to being the ones in the video, they could be barred from their work visas needed for the tour.
“These young men have to be careful they are not deemed inadmissible to the USA,” the attorney, Michael Wildes (whose own father was the immigration attorney for John Lennon and Yoko Ono), said.
“The basis of a determination to bar One Direction from admission into the USA would be any concessions that they make or proof that they engaged in unlawful conduct. Even the smoking of a single joint could have that effect,” he added.
The Anti-Drugs Department of the Peruvian National Police said they did not plan to prosecute Malik and Tomlinson, because they care more about international trade than consumption.
Justin Bieber also felt the wrath of the U.S. government back in January, only days after confessing to smoking marijuana. He flew to New Jersey and U.S. Customs officials brought their drug-sniffing dogs onto his plane (they said even though it smelled of pot, they found nothing).
He was also taken into custody at LAX in April after flying in from Japan.
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Chef Nigella Lawson was also banned from a flight going from London to Los Angeles back in April, after confessing to using cocaine in a court case.
“I’m just wondering now, we’re sitting here in Peru,” Tomlinson said in the video. “Will this come back to me? Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not.”
1D’s nationwide U.S. tour is set to kick off Aug. 4 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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