British Muslim actor Riz Ahmed has put U.S. immigration authorities on blast after he was forced to miss a flight to a Star Wars Celebration convention earlier this year.
The 36-year-old has alleged he was racially profiled in April as he made his way through an unnamed U.S. airport en route to Chicago, Illinois to join fans of the sci-fi franchise, after portraying Bodhi Rook in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
However, Ahmed claimed he was also forced to scrap plans to make an official appearance at the big event after he was interrogated by Homeland Security officials and then allegedly banned from boarding his flight due to terrorism suspicions.
The actor shared the news for the first time earlier this week during a panel discussion at the three-day Amplify leadership summit in California, organised by agents at the Creative Artists Agency, when he urged Hollywood casting officials to provide more varied opportunities for Muslims onscreen, so they can change the way people like him are viewed in the public eye.
"I'm basically here to ask for your help, because it's really scary to be a Muslim right now, super scary," he said, after explaining how he had reportedly been treated trying to make his way to the Star Wars Celebration bash.
Ahmed recalled how he had frequently been stopped and searched at airports due to the colour of his skin, and added, "I've often wondered, 'Is this going to be the year when they round us up?' (Or) if this is going to be the year they put (U.S President Donald) Trump's (Muslim) registry into action, if this is going to be the year they ship us all off (deport them)."
Warning studio bosses against heightening fears of Islamophobia with the stories they create for the screen, he continued, "I think lives are quite literally at stake here. The representation of Muslims on screen - that feeds the (legal) policies that get enacted, the people that get killed, the countries that get invaded."
Homeland Security officials have not commented on the alleged incident in April.
It's not the first time Ahmed has used his position in the spotlight to draw attention to the issue.
At the 2017 Emmy Awards, he made history as the first man of South Asian descent - and only the second Asian ever - to win a prize for his work on TV crime drama series The Night Of, in which he played a Pakistani-American college student accused of murdering a white woman.
"If this show has shown a light on some of the prejudice in our society, some of the injustice in our justice system, then maybe that's something," he said as he collected the honour for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited.
