... Says entertainers must waive privacy rights

The United States Embassy in Kingston has said that it will release information on specific visa denial cases involving several Jamaican artistes if the entertainers waive their privacy rights.

Waiving these rights would make the information regarding the denial of their visas available to the public.

However, attorney-at-law Delano Franklyn explained that although the US Embassy made that announcement, it is the US authorities that will ultimately decide whether the information will be released.

“Because the embassy has said it would make the infor- mation available, then one would have to take their word for it. But the United States Embassy, like any other embassy, owes no one an explanation as to why a visa has, in fact, been denied,” Franklyn said.

“If the artiste says to the embassy, I waive my right, please explain to the public why I was denied my visa, the US does not have to comply,” Franklyn said.

Joshua Polacheck, public affairs officer at the US Embassy, said at a Gleaner Editor’s Forum earlier this week that Jamaican entertainers have “never” been denied visas, or had them taken away over matters such as as anti-gay lyrics.

“No artiste has ever been refused a visa for artistic reasons, and that includes promoting views that are either loving or repelling. The market may not choose to employ them,” Polacheck said.