British pop singer Lily Allen has no idea why her U.S. working visa was revoked, but she hopes she will be granted a new one for her planned September tour, her record company EMI Music said on Wednesday. Allen was detained at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday for five hours after she arrived from Australia. She was searched, but not strip searched as reported, Murray Chalmers, spokesman for EMI Music in London, said in a statement.
“The authorities decided to revoke her American O-1 work visa. She has no idea why she was singled out for such treatment,” Chalmers said. “We are sure we have enough time to sort the situation before her next visit in September.”
A report on the BBC Web site (www.bbc.co.uk) said Allen, 22, had been detained by U.S. authorities in connection with her arrest in June following an incident outside a London nightclub in March. She received a warning from police but was not charged with any crime.
“No one knows (why she lost her visa). That was just speculation,” Chalmers said of the reports.
An O-1 visa allows people with extraordinary skills within the field of sciences, arts, education, business, athletics, or within the field of motion picture or television industry to work temporarily in the United States.
Allen’s manager, Neale Easterby of Empire Management, told Billboard magazine that the singer was allowed to enter the United States and will remain in the country — where she is shooting a music video — until Thursday.
On Tuesday Allen, who has a reputation as a wild child in Britain, was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. She is due to perform at the award show in Las Vegas on September 9 and also plans to tour.
Allen, whose song “Smile” was a hit last year, had been due to tour the United States in May and June. But she canceled the concerts in April, saying she was tired and not performing as well as she could.
