King of only certain parts of the world? Leonardo DiCaprio faces a possible ban from returning to Indonesia after he criticized the nation's palm-oil plantations for destroying rain forests.
The Oscar winner and environmental activist, 41, visited the Indonesian island of Sumatra last month and posted to Instagram that the palm-oil industry was threatening such wildlife in the Leuser Ecosystem as Sumatran elephants, tigers and orangutans. Plantations often use slash-and-burn techniques to clear forest in the area.
"The expansion of palm oil plantations is fragmenting the forest and cutting off key elephant migration corridors, making it more difficult for elephant families to find adequate sources of food and water," DiCaprio wrote. "A world-class biodiversity hotspot … But Palm Oil expansion is destroying this unique place. Now is the time to save the Leuser Ecosystem."
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Heru Santoso, a spokesperson for the Indonesian government, responded to the posts by threatening to prevent the Wolf of Wall Street actor from visiting the Southeast Asian country again, according to the Associated Press.
"We support his concern to save the Leuser Ecosystem," Santoso said. "But we can blacklist him from returning to Indonesia at any time if he keeps posting incitement or provocative statements in his social media."
Santoso added that the companies that took issue with DiCaprio's comments can request to have immigration officials bar the actor from returning, though such actions have yet to be taken.
The Titanic star has long been outspoken over ecological concerns. After winning the Oscar in February for his role in The Revenant, he devoted a significant portion of his acceptance speech to speaking out about climate change. "Let's not take this planet for granted," he said from the podium.
Indonesian officials similarly threatened to ban Harrison Ford from the country in September 2013 over alleged comments made by the Star Wars actor to the nation's forestry minister about illegal logging.
