Ahead of next week’s historic summit between North Korea and the United States, Singaporean officials want visitors to know this is no time for fun and games.
At least not from Kim Jong Un impersonator, Howard X, an entertainer and music producer from Hong Kong who performs under the name “Kim Jong Um.”
According to a post on his Facebook page, Mr. X was detained for two hours this morning at Changi Airport.
It appears that Singapore is rolling out the welcome mat for Kim Jong Un, who has been accused of crimes against humanity, and Donald Trump, who has called white-supremacists “very fine people”, but draws the line at comedians.
“When I arrived at 3:30 in the morning in Singapore there was an officer waiting for me,” said Mr. X in the post.
“They search my bags and then told me that this is a very sensitive time to be in Singapore.”
The lookalike said he was asked if he had participated in Hong Kong’s “Occupy Central” protest movement, to which he responded he had.
It is illegal to hold a protest in tightly-controlled Singapore without a police permit, except for in one corner of a downtown park.
This isn’t Mr. X’s first time performing here. Last month, he spent several hours delighting tourists and locals alike, posing for selfies outside the Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Esplanade
This time, he came to town for an event called “The ‘Real’ Trump-Kim Summit”, taking place Saturday and Sunday, where he will join a Donald Trump impersonator to shake hands and pose for photos with the public.
Luckily, Mr. X won’t have to disappoint his fans. According to his Facebook post, Changi officials released him, but not before giving him a stern warning to stay away from locations where summit activities are taking place, including Sentosa Island and the Shangri-La hotel.
But despite the brief setback, the dictator-look-alike might have the last laugh, ending his post saying “I am here now, so be prepared for some fun during this historical moment in the finest dictatorship in the world.”
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