LONDON, England (AP) – British writer and self-styled dandy Sebastian Horsley was denied entry to the United States after arriving to promote his memoir of sex, drugs and flamboyant fashion.
Sebastian Horsley was deemed “not admissible” by U.S. customs agents.
Horsley said he was questioned for eight hours Tuesday by border officials at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey before being denied entry on grounds of “moral turpitude.”
The 45-year-old author was traveling to New York for the U.S. launch of “Dandy in the Underworld,” his account of a life dedicated to sex, drugs and finely tailored clothes.
“I was dressed flamboyantly – top hat, long velvet coat, gloves,” Horsley said. “My one concession to American sensibilities was to remove my nail polish. I thought that would get me through.”
According to Lucille Cirillo, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Horsley was traveling under the CBP’s visa waiver program, which entitles citizens of some countries – mostly in the European Union – to enter the United States for business or leisure without applying for a visa. Travelers can be refused entry if they admit on a customs form to being convicted of a crime or to being addicted to narcotics, Cirillo said.
She declined to specify what responses Horsley listed on the form.
“We interviewed the individual extensively and the CBP officers decided he was not admissible under the visa waiver program,” she said.
Horsley can still apply for a visa to return to the United States, Cirillo said.
“They knew more about me than I did,” Horsley said Thursday in an interview from his London home. "They said, ‘We know you’re a heroin addict, we know you’re a crack addict, we know you’re involved in prostitution.’ "
Horsley’s book – billed as an “unauthorized autobiography” – vividly recounts years of heavy drug use and frequent visits to prostitutes. He says he has been drug-free for three years.
He said his only conviction stemmed from an arrest 25 years ago for possession of amphetamine sulfate, for which he was given a conditional discharge. He said he has visited the United States seven or eight times without incident.
“Dandy in the Underworld” was released in Britain last year to good reviews. Carrie Kania, of the book’s U.S. publisher Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins, said the book was “a cautionary tale of a life lived vividly.”
“It is unfortunate that his voice, in person, is being stifled. But the book will live on,” Kania said.
Horsley achieved his greatest notoriety in 2000 when he had himself crucified in the Philippines as part of an art project.
