KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — American singer-songwriter Maggie Lindemann’s recent arrest is actually due to the mismanagement of the agent handling applications for her professional permit to perform in Malaysia, her show’s venue host The Bee said today.
The Bee expressed its “sincerest regret” that the June 21 incident happened at its premises, but went on to explain that both the restaurant and the show’s organisers are not to blame.
In clarifying the arrest to Lindemann’s fans and media outlets, The Bee cited sources when confirming that she was held overnight by local immigration authorities and that she was released in less than 24 hours.
“We understand that the organisers of the show worked around the clock and did everything in their power to successfully get her and her crew released and placed in a safe and comfortable environment pending the Immigration hearing date, upon which she was returned home to the US,” The Bee said in a brief statement today.
The Bee said the arrest followed the visa permit agent’s wrongly informing the organisers that local authorities had allegedly approved Lindemann’s performance and that the agent has since been brought to court.
“We understand that the incident occurred due to the wrongful actions of the visa permit agent, who has also misinformed the organisers that the show was approved by the relevant authorities, and permitted to go on. The Agent was subsequently charged, found guilty for his negligence and had to pay a fine for his actions,” The Bee said.
“For clarity, The Bee, as a venue, was not responsible for the arrest and does not condone any foreign acts to proceed to perform when there are such irregularities,” it added.
“We are deeply sorry that this unfortunate incident happened to Maggie and we hope to welcome her to The Bee again,” it also said.
The Bee gave its assurance today that it will be taking steps to ensure such an incident does not happen again, promising to be more careful in checking the relevant documents related to future performances.
“As a venue who believes in bringing the best entertainment into the country, we will be more diligent in vetting all documentation before we allow any show to go on,” it said.
Lindemann, who has 3.7 million Instagram followers and over 490,000 Twitter followers, yesterday posted a message on the two social media platforms to apologise to her fans who bought tickets for her show in Asia.
In her post yesterday, Lindemann said she was arrested mid-show on June 21 and was confined for the next five days in a “living hell”, but offered no explanation for the reasons behind her detention.
Lindemann, 20, reportedly cancelled her South-east Asian tour to Vietnam and Singapore on June 22 and 24 respectively.
Earlier today, Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Hamidi Adam was reported by local daily The Star as confirming Lindemann’s recent arrest for not having a professional visit pass at the time of the performance.
Hamidi reportedly said Lindemann was detained at the Kuala Lumpur’s Immigration Department’s office for documentation purposes, and that she was released with bail the next day.
Hamidi also said the relevant individual relating to the organising of the show has been fined RM30,000 after pleading guilty in court.
