<\/p>\n
But paranoia may be what\u2019s at play here after all. Matthew Covey co-launched Tamizdat and founded law firm CoveyLaw, which last year helped arrange US visas for nearly 1,000 UK artists. Covey says that \u201cno artist has been denied a visa, detained or deported [under Trump] who would not have been subject to the same process under [former US president] Biden. We have certainly seen denials and we\u2019ve seen people being turned around at the border, but every one of those follows a well-established fact pattern.\u201d Artists, to date, have not been banned due to their political opinions, the content of their art or their public statements, he reiterates.<\/p>\n
What has changed among the arts community, Covey says, is a creeping \u201cfear\u201d about what could happen, given what\u2019s happened to academics and students. Earlier in June, an Australian writer and former Columbia University student called Alistair Kitchen was denied entry into the US and sent home due \u2013 he claimed \u2013 to his writings on the pro-Palestine student protests at Columbia. The CBP denied this, saying Kitchen had \u201cprovided false information on his ESTA [visa waiver] application\u201d.<\/p>\n
But creatives are concerned. They don\u2019t want to be Springsteened, to coin a phrase. US citizen Bruce Springsteen has been excoriating about Trump<\/a> on his current European tour, calling the administration \u201ccorrupt, incompetent and treasonous\u201d. Trump, in return, took to his Truth Social platform to call The Boss \u201chighly overrated\u201d and \u201ca pushy, obnoxious JERK\u201d.<\/p>\n