NY to Stars at Ground Zero: Go Away

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/04/2001 at 02:34 PM EDT

While New York City officials work around the clock to return the city, especially Lower Manhattan, to normal, they have also put out an unusual request -- more in the form of a demand -- to stars who wish to visit Ground Zero: Stay away. "We've asked celebrities and people in the entertainment business to please not go to the site," Richard Sheirer, director of the mayor's Office of Emergency Management, told the New York Post. Besides the safety factor, celebrities also create "a distraction," he said. "They think they're helping. In some instances, you shouldn't be distracting (rescue workers). That's a very dangerous site right now." Broken glass and debris continue to fall in the area, which has been visited by several American and foreign politicians, including the presidents of France and Mexico, always under tightly controlled situations. Among the celebrities who made it past the barricades, which have been reinforced and made harder to break through in this past week: Muhammad Ali, Bette Midler, Chris Rock, Miss America Katie Harman, Chevy Chase, Candice Bergen, Alec Baldwin and boxing promoter Don King.