‘Sing Sing’ BAFTA Nominees Clarence Maclin & John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield Denied UK Visas To Attend Ceremony

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: BAFTA nominees Clarence Maclin and John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield will not be attending Sunday’s film awards ceremony after their applications for entry visas to the UK were denied.

Deadline has learned that the pair, who are both nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Sing Sing, while Maclin is up for Supporting Actor as well, made multiple appeals to the UK Home Office but were unsuccessful in having the decisions reversed.

The visa refusals, we are told, were based on Maclin and Whitfiel’s criminal records in the U.S. Maclin, who plays himself in Sing Sing, served more than 17 years at the eponymous maximum-security facility on a robbery conviction.

He was released in 2012. Whitfield, who is portrayed in the film by Leading Actor BAFTA nominee Colman Domingo and turns up in a cameo, was incarcerated for almost 25 years at the prison and also released in 2012.