Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who was allegedly subjected to racial profiling at a United States airport last year, on Sunday said such incidents cast a negative impact on America's image globally.
"Oh, yes. I think so. Yes. I think all over the world," Shah Rukh said in an interview when asked if such incidents of racial profiling affect America's image in a country like India. The actor claimed that even his children have been subject to special screening several times at the US airports.
Recollecting his experience at the Newark Airport last year, Shah Rukh said, "Normally I am kind of used to having extra security checks, perhaps because of the name or the way profiling is done, even my kids, so I'm used to it. It's not something new."
"But, suddenly the immigration officials started asking questions," he told CNN in an interview.
"What are you doing here and do you have a telephone number? I took out my phone and they were a little angry about me taking out my phone. So I said, I can't give you a number until I find them out," he said.
"I gave a few numbers and then they would go in, check, then they came and said what are you doing here? And so I said I have come here for a film, I have also come for a live talk. They said if you have come for a talk, how can you be a movie star? So I said, you know, I talk also," Shah Rukh said.
"So it just got out of hand, and I guess it was a process, so they went on and on -- and it took a couple of hours," he said, adding that this was the first time that he had experienced such a thing at an US airport, even though in the past there had been instances when he was subjected to special screening.
Shah Rukh said even his children have been subject to special screening. "Oh, yes, yes," he said in response to a question.
"They get very excited, because, you know, they get to put their feet on those little marks and stand like that. So they think they're being special," he said.
"I just had an issue that for a country which has such outstanding processes and systems for everything, and they have a process and system for profiling people who are perhaps on a marked list, they should also have a system where people who come regularly should also be marked positively," Shah Rukh said.
