Rapper Mos Def, who now goes by the name Yasiin Bey, was arrested at Cape Town International Airport Thursday for allegedly violating immigration laws as he tried to leave the country.
Department of Home Affairs spokesman Mayihlome Tshwete told The Associated Press that Bey, 42, gave authorities a “worldwide passport” when he tried to leave South Africa. Tshwete said that Bey had first entered South Africa with an American passport in 2013 and only had a visitor’s permit.
A court order was issued, ordering Bey to leave South Africa in 14 days and he would be banned for five years. Tshwete told the AP that there could be an appeal for leniency.
Bey was accompanied by other members of his family at the court hearing on Friday. Tshwete said that they were also in South Africa without a permit.
Bey, who performed under the name Mos Def, was born Dante Smith. His decision to move out of the country hasn’t stopped him from acting in films, including Begin Again, 2003’s The Italian Job and Showtime’s Dexter.
“It’s really America’s a very challenging place for me,” Bey told Billboard in 2014 about leaving the U.S. “Sure, there’s great business opportunities, familiarity and all that. But given the current social, political, economic climate, it’s very difficult. Unnecessarily difficult. To create to the degree of fullness, the type of robust, type of creativity that I like to have, it’s very difficult for me to produce that here.”
There has been a critical error on your website.<\/p>
Learn more about debugging in WordPress.<\/a><\/p>","data":{"status":500},"additional_errors":[]}