American comedian Sammy Obeid denied entry into Japan and ‘held in cell for 24 hours’

US comedian Sammy Obeid has said he was detained in Japan for 24 hours and sent back to the US after being denied entry ahead of his scheduled stand-up comedy shows.Obeid, who has spoken publicly about the war in Gaza and his support for Palestinians, shared the news on social media on Friday, saying he was held in solitary confinement and had his luggage searched for “weapons and drugs”. Officials told him he did not have the correct visa to perform, he said, attributing it to the difficulty of securing the sponsorship required for shows at smaller venues. “The Japanese government denied me entry and held me in solitary confinement for 24 hours over a standup comedy show with 40 attendees,” Obeid wrote.The comedian had been due to perform two shows in Tokyo on 23 and 24 October: Talking in Tokyo at Perry’s Bar Shibuya on Friday, followed by Tokyo Takeover at Tokyo Comedy Bar on Saturday.Obeid said he had arrived in Tokyo two days before his performances with two other comedians, both of whom were allowed into the country. The comedian, known for his appearances on Conan and America’s Got Talent and for hosting the Netflix series 100 Humans, said immigration officials took his US passport, and then pressed him about his itinerary, his work, and his plans for the countries he intended to visit afterwards.US comedian Sammy Obeid has said he was detained in Japan for 24 hours and sent back to the US after being denied entry ahead of his scheduled stand-up comedy shows (YouTube/Sammy Obeid)The sticking point, he said, was his visa. Obeid explained that he had struggled to secure the sponsorship required for the visa officials said he needed, as no Japanese organisation was paying him directly and tickets were being sold through a US-based third-party app.“I’m not able to obtain the specific eligibility criterion for the visa they speak of for the size of venues that I’m doing,” Obeid wrote. “I explained to them only 12 tickets were sold to one of the shows. They said ‘that’s a lot.’”Japan requires foreign comedians and other performers to have the appropriate permission to work, with the rules depending on how their shows are organised. One route covers performances at venues with at least 100 seats, while another allows certain short-term engagements paying at least ¥500,000 (£2,381) a day. For other shows, performers generally need a contract with a Japanese organisation that meets specific requirements. The application must set out the performance arrangements and how the performer will be paid, so a comedian relying on a US promoter and a third-party ticketing app may have difficulty if there is no qualifying Japanese organisation involved.According to local listings, Perry’s seats 40 while Tokyo Comedy Bar has a capacity of 55.“Everyone I asked in the process was not able to get me the needed sponsorship. Also no one in Japan is paying me directly. Tickets are collected through a third party, US based app. So everyone I consulted with said I would be fine, as I had on previous trips. But I was not.”Obeid had performed in Japan before. He sold out all four shows at the Tokyo International Comedy Festival in 2025.He added that he accepted responsibility for the situation, writing: “It’s on me for not seeing this coming. But given everything I knew at the time, this was the best I could do to try to put on a show for the size crowd I have in Japan.”Obeid said he was given the option to appeal the decision but was warned that the process was unlikely to succeed. Sammy Obeid (Sammy Obeid/YouTube)When he suggested flying to Hong Kong or Taiwan, he said officials insisted he return to the US on the same airline he had arrived with. “The next flight is 24 hours from now, you will stay in solitary confinement until then,” he recalled being told.He said officials searched him and his luggage for “weapons and drugs” before taking him to a small room, where he had no access to his phone or other personal belongings. The comedian suggested he believed he had been singled out, writing: “I do feel like I was targeted. Whether just flagged as suspicious which turned into them finding a reason for me to leave OR if they knew in advance that I was coming and were waiting to do this. I just know it wasn’t random.”The Independent has reached out to Obeid and the Japanese foreign ministry for comment. The Japanese government has not issued a public statement or comment on the matter.In August last year, Obeid’s shows in Singapore’s 614-seat Victoria Theatre were cancelled after authorities rejected his licence application. He said officials had asked him to remove references to Israel and Palestine from his material on Gaza, but Singapore’s media regulator denied discussing his script or requesting edits, saying the application had been submitted too late.