K-pop act Oh My Girl was reportedly detained at Los Angeles International Airport and denied entry into the United States on Wednesday, Dec. 9. The eight-person girl group was held for questioning, allegedly under the suspicion of being sex workers.
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Oh My Girl’s management company, WM Entertainment, released a statement about the incident. Representatives said that authorities seemed suspicious of the large amounts of props and clothing that the girls were traveling with, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“As young women, they were mistaken as ‘working women’ which has recently been a big issue in the U.S.,” the company wrote.
The L.A. Times says that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman could not confirm or deny the group’s claims due to the Privacy Act.
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TMZ reports that the girls were attempting to enter the country with visitor visas, when they should have obtained performer visas — and that this is the reason why they were stopped by U.S. Customs.
The group’s reps, however, wrote that they “did not need a performance visa” because they were not holding a concert, just participating in a promotional appearance. Oh My Girl’s camp is reportedly consulting with attorneys in the U.S. about the group’s detention, which is said to have lasted for 15 hours.