Bonnie Blue Gets Shocking Punishment for ‘Bang Bus’ Stunt in Bali

Okay, I just want to say thank you to be. bad boys that are currently pushing this. bike. It has had it. >> And it's that bus that got adult content. creator Bonnie Blue in some trouble out. in Bali. Or did it? After all the talk. about her facing years in jail for. allegedly making explicit pornographic. material in a country that strictly. forbids this, she was just in court and. learned her fate. Her punishment and. what she was officially accused of in. the end may surprise you. We're bringing. on an immigration specialist on this one.

to break it all down. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. All right, what a transition this is. Going from Bonnie Blue, who we'll talk. about in a minute, to the perfect deal. for the perfect gift this holiday. season. Meet the Chef IQ Sense Smart. meat thermometer. Okay, all jokes aside, this is awesome. This is the secret to. stress-free, flawless cooking. So. whether you're a seasoned chef or you're. just starting out, this smart. thermometer, it guarantees perfect.

results every time. There's no more. guessing. There's no more over cooking. You just insert it. You select your. food, your cooking method, your. preferred doneness. You relax. Your app. is going to alert you when it's time to. flip, remove, rest. Perfect food every. time. From holiday turkey to prime rib, wings, brisket, salmon. It works for. oven, grill, smoker, air fryer. You. really can't mess this up. It is the. gift that makes cooking stressfree and. fun. Isn't that the point? And with my. code sidebar, you can save 30% off of. sitewide at chefiq.com. Okay, so we have. the latest in the Bonnie Blue saga that.

we got to talk about because we have. seemingly learned what her fate is after. she appeared in court today. Now, we. mentioned how the 26-year-old adult. content creator, real named Tia. Billinger, was arrested out in Bali on. suspicion of making pornographic. materials, which is very scary out in. Indonesia. They have strict anti- porn. immorality laws there. We were. reporting, as there were other outlets. reporting, that someone who violates. some of these laws could spend 15 years.

in jail. Very serious. And the. allegations here stemmed from her using. a truck called the Bang Bus to drive. around Bali, allegedly picking up men to. allegedly create pornographic content. The idea of Schoolies Week, you know, picking up teenagers. Just picked up the. Bonnie Boo by bus in Bali. No air con. Why is hanging out? Can't move to see. it. Very very questionable. Doesn't have. seat belts. Yeah.

>> The brakes work. >> Authorities here reportedly seized. cameras, condoms, USB drives, sexual. enhancement pills when they raided a. studio in Bedong. According to the. International Business Times, police. also got a hold of Bonnie Blue's phone. This is where they allegedly found an. adult video featuring her and a male, an. unidentified male. She was arrested, by. the way, alongside three men, two. British, one Australian. There was also. apparently 14 other men who were. detained as a part of this. They were.

questioned. They were released as part. of this probe. While Blue and the other. three men that I mentioned, they were. detained. They were kept for. questioning. But this appeared to be a. joint investigation. It was police and. immigration authorities. There were two. parts to this that it appears that was. happening simultaneously. You had the. local police chief Muhammad Arif. Batubara who said that authorities are. quote conducting a joint investigation. regarding activities involving alleged. criminal acts of pornography or material.

that violates decency. Went on to say. while in Bali BB meaning Bonnie Blue. should have been traveling but instead. she was creating content. Now, the. police investigation started to reveal. they may not have evidence that she. committed a violation of the anti- porn. laws. With respect to the video that I. mentioned, apparently on her phone, the. International Business Times claims that. police concluded there wasn't overt. nudity or genitalia that was featured in.

the video, and they couldn't say when or. where it was filmed. You know, presumably maybe not in Bali or if it. had even been published online. You had. a representative for the Bedong police. who said, according to the Mirror, when. they were raided, they were making. collab content about a game where the. winner would sleep with Bonnie Blue. No. pornographic activities or acts have. been found in the collaborative content. But she wasn't out of hot water just yet. because she had to appear in court today.

for traffic violations and tourist visa. issues. You see, the Bedong police. indicated that after two days of. interviews, they quote had not found any. pornographic elements and that everyone. questioned quote admitted to being at. the studio to participate in the. production of the reality show content. So, it wasn't actual pornographic. material, but sort of this game, this. reality show. We talked about this on a. previous sidebar. However, authorities. reportedly confirmed according to the. New York Post that Bonnie Blue and the.

three men that I mentioned before were. quote suspected of abusing their. residence permits by using their kitas. This is an essential document for. foreigners staying in Indonesia for a. long term or period of long term uh for. working for working and quote tourist. visas to work on creating commercial. content. So, this was about going around. on the tour bus, using it to make. commercial content, and not having the. right permits. And also, by the way, according to the International Business. Times, apparently the guy that was.

driving that bus didn't have a valid. international driver's license either. So, according to the mirror, the. immigration chief in this area said they. have misused the visa they have to make. content in Bali. They will be. blacklisted from entering Indonesia for. at least 10 years. That could be. extended once police have finished with. the investigation. After that, we will. deport them and put them on the. blacklist. And there was also apparently. an issue with the bus. The Daily Mail.

reported that the bus was apparently. untaxed since 2023. And while on the. registration, it said it was white in. color, it was repainted to blue. The New. York Post reported that Bonnie Blue. apparently purchased this vehicle for. $1,200. So, what happens? I say all. this, what happens in court today? Okay, after all of this, what happens? She. goes to Depasser District Court. alongside the three other men. By the. way, reporting indicates that the. Australian guy is comedian Julian Woods.

And what happens? while she is hit with. a massive massive fine. of $13. Yeah, $13. $13 fine and deported and blacklisted. from coming back into the country for at. least 10 years. Reporting indicates that. she was given the choice of paying the. $13 fine or spend a month in jail. Reporting indicates by all accounts she. will be paying the fine. And according. to reporting from the Daily Telegraph.

and the New York Post, when she was told. by the judge not to violate Bali's. traffic laws again, Bonnie Blue replied, "I understand." The International. Business Times reported that she will be. uh deported within 48 hours. And by the. way, this is all interesting considering. she allegedly made statements leading up. to this hearing like how she's not. afraid of facing trial and quote, "There's nothing I can't handle.". According to one report from uh Detic.

Bali, it was also reported by outlets. like The Mirror that earlier on this. week when she was entering into the. immigration office, she told reporters, told the media who asked if she's going. to make more explicit content while in. Bali, she allegedly said, "Subscribe and. you'll find out." But she did confirm at. the time that the bang bust was over. So, I want to bring in right now Eric. Welsh to make sense of this, what this. could all mean for Bonnie Blue. Eric is. an immigration specialist. He's a. partner of Reeves Immigration Law Group,

certified as a specialist in immigration. and nationality law by the California. Board of Legal Specialization of the. State Bar of California. Thank you so. much for coming on. Really, really. appreciate it. Um, look, I know I know. you're not an expert in Indonesian. immigration law or or or what's going on. in Bali, but generally speaking, are you. surprised by this outcome? >> I'm not surprised and not surprised. I. mean given the profile first of all I. mean this is this is a high-profile uh. situation that's happening in Bali.

Indonesia is as you said an extremely. socially conservative country and they. have extremely restrictive immigration. policies. their rules on a tourist visa. of course that tourism is a major part. of the industry in Indonesia and so they. they want tourists but they have a. balance I suppose in their perspective. where they have uh to balance that. against their social conservative uh. ideas their norms and so in a case like. this when you have somebody who has uh. perhaps they're working without. authorization or even if you would say.

okay maybe you're working as a something. close to a digital nomad but you're not. doing it with the permission of the. country that's one issue so it's a. technical issue second issue is the fact. that she is uh acting outside of the. societal norms and because it is somehow. so offensive to the to the country um. and because of the profile of the. individual. I think they had to take. immediate action, at least from their. perspective, this wasn't something that. they wanted to uh to let linger or to. give her the opportunity to to stay in. the country a day longer. >> A 10-year ban from coming back into the.

country. Is that something you've seen. before? >> Well, we we've got bans like that in the. States, but not for something like this. I mean, you know, of course, the United. States would probably have maybe a free. speech element where you might have a. defense to even a removal or a. deportation based on this, but um but we. have I mean, in the United States, if. you've overstayed your visa for a period. of time and you leave, you could be. banned for 10 years. So, it's not. extraordinary as far as immigration. policies. US is tough. We've got one of.

the toughest immigration uh systems in. the in the world, but uh Indonesia is. stricter. you know, theirs is theirs is. even tougher than ours. So, um they can. act much quicker. I think their uh their. understandings of due process are are. more liberal than ours. And so, um so. they might say, "Look, you you don't. have the opportunity to stay here and. fight your case in court. We're not. going to give you um you know, a year or. two to put together a defense. You're. out of here today." So, um and the. 10-year bar, I I think that's like I. said, that's not unusual when it comes.

to immigration policies, even in our own. country. What happens if she by the way I I don't. know Bonnie Blue but I imagine she's. probably happy with this outcome for a. variety of reasons but the idea of hey. let me just leave this country. immediately so not facing any sort of. other legal repercussions um what. happens if she tries to come back to. Bali or let's say there's a layover and. she goes to the airport there I don't. know what would happen in a situation. like that. >> well so it depends right so on the. layover situation she might have special.

permission to travel through the. country. We've got permits like that, transit visas that don't allow you to. leave the airport. If you do, it's a. violation. You can be prosecuted. Um, and they might be more restrictive for. her. They might not give her such. permission. I would imagine if she made. an attempt to reenter without. permission, she's not uh she's not given. advanced permission to come in. Um, I. imagine she'd be summarily deported. Um, you know, we we've got a process here in. the States. It's called expedited. removal and uh and also reinstatement of. removal which means that if a person has.

been deported they come back they don't. have to go through a process again ICE. the enforcer in our country can simply. say we've already got a warrant you're. out of here we already ordered you. deported so you know they can catch her. at the border they can catch her. anywhere and she wouldn't even have a. opportunity for a process most likely. she should be sent out again. >> can you explain to our viewers and our. listeners listen listeners what she did. that warranted this why this is such a. big deal. So obviously they didn't find. evidence of her making pornographic.

material. If that was the case, we'd be. talking about an entirely different. situation here. The idea of not having. the right tourist visa, not having the. right permits to to do work. Why is this. such a big deal? What did she do wrong? Why why what are we seeing in uh in in. Indonesia and other areas? Why this is. such a big deal? Well, I think on the one hand you've got. the the policy is about working without. permission which which every country to. some extent has got rules about who can. work in the country, right? So it's it's.

protective of the native population. their their ability to get jobs, right? So we've got rules in the states too. that say if you're here as a visitor, you can't work you can't work for a US. employer. Um now that doesn't. necessarily stop you from acting as a. digital nomad, right? So for for working. for your foreign employer um just on. your laptop while you're you know at the. beach in Miami, that's okay. Um. Indonesia has even more restrictive. policies in that regard. So even when. you have the argument, look, I'm not. working for an employer in Indonesia.

I'm not taking a job from an Indonesian. Indonesia can still say that doesn't. matter because our rules require you to. pre-register anything where you're gonna. essentially make income based on. anything that you're doing in this. country. So, you know why Indonesia has. those rules? Again, I think that goes. back to the extremely conservative and. restrictive immigration policies. This. gives them a a way a tool to take. somebody like Bonnie Blue and deboard.

her for doing what maybe in the United. States and most other countries would be. considered acceptable visitor behavior. Right. So, so their definition of a. visitor is different from ours. >> What um what is deportation? How does it. work now in the next 48 hours? What what. does that look like for her? Well, so as I understand it for. Indonesia, it's extremely fast and and. so they they're just going to say, "Look, you're out of the country." They. might give her the opportunity to uh get. herself on a plane, pack her own bags.

Um or they might detain her and escort. her and put her onto a chartered flight. Um but one way or another, they're going. to want to get her out of there as. quickly as possible. And based on. everything I've seen, they're able to do. that. So, so it seems to me like she's. not going to be in the country more. than, you know, probably a few more. hours. >> By the way, one of the things that um I. really wanted to have you on for as well. is because it was reported that she had. these immigration interviews that lasted. I mean I think maybe over a few days, maybe several hours. What were the What.

do you imagine those immigration. interviews were like? What was she. questioned about? Is she entitled to a. lawyer at those hearings? Um what are. they looking for? How do they work? We. we hear, let me tell you, we hear we. cover police interviews all the time. We. cover interrogations all the time. What's an immigration interview look. like? >> Yeah. Well, so at least on in my. experience of immigration interviews, when when ICE or when someone else from. DHS wants to talk to an individual or. talk to somebody who knows that. individual, it's because they're.

building a case just like in a criminal. case. Um, you know, this is a civil. proceeding, so it's not criminal. Um, and as a civil procedure, you might be a. little more permissive with the rules of. evidence and with uh with, you know, modes of interrogation, things like. that. For example, they might be able to. question her without a lawyer because, you know, like in the United States, the. constitutional protections, the fifth. amendment, sixth, sixth amendment, they. don't apply uh necessarily in the. immigration context because it's not a. criminal proceeding. It's a civil. proceeding. Um, so you know, they they.

might be able to question her without an. attorney um extensively and uh and they. might just be asking her either. questions to uh build a case for perjury. if they think she's going to lie um or. to uh build the facts that they need to. say you've done enough to violate our. laws that we can deport you. Um and you. know I think too and this is maybe you. know analogous to the criminal. proceeding. Um those lengthy interviews, those those you know uh hours of hours.

of questioning are exhausting and um and. demoralizing and um and they lead to. things like confessions and in the. immigration context withdrawal of uh of. admission or or something where you say, "Look, I I just don't want to do this. anymore. If you can give me an exit, I'll take it." Um, so sometimes it can. be just a form of intimidation, a form. of beating somebody down until they do. what you want them to do. >> If she's banned from Bali and. essentially she was reportedly banned.

from Australia, right? I think the. reporting was that due to a stun or. there was even a change.org petition to. make sure she wouldn't enter into. Australia. Um, they canled her visa last. year. Um, if you are making waves in different. parts of the world and getting these. bans, does this affect her ability to. legally enter into other countries? >> Well, not per se, right? So, you know, our policy is if if you're deported or.

banned in another country, that doesn't. have any immediate bearing on your obed. ability to get into the country. But uh. you know I think again if you're talking. about a highprofile situation uh there. will be uh things that are known um when. a person's applying to get into a. country. So you know she might be. applying for a visa to get into a. European country or to get into uh the. United States or elsewhere and they're. not necessarily going to say look you. were you know you were deported from. Indonesia so we're not going to let you.

in here. But they might say okay why. were you deported? What was the basis? is that give us a reason to refuse you. admission. So, you know, like I said, it's it's not something where you could. say, okay, she's she's now not going to. be able to travel anywhere, but uh but I. think it is because her profile is is. now so high that um anytime she's going. to be applying, I I'm sure she's going. to be scrutinized. Are you seeing this. these issues of adult content creators, maybe just content creators in general. who who make money off of uh wild pranks.

or stunts or actions um going to other. countries, getting in trouble like this. um restricting their ability to go into. the countries, being deported? Are you. seeing cases like this? >> I mean, this is this is not a a very. common situation, you know, it's not. something that uh that we see too often. Um, but you know, we we do in my. clientele, we we've got clients who. were, you know, deported because of. their speech or because uh they they've.

upset the government for reasons that. wouldn't uh give rise to a deportation. or a crime in the United States. And uh. and we can defend these individuals and. and we can uh get a visa for them to get. here even if they're excluded from. somewhere else. Um that's not always in. the context of of you know uh. pornographic content creation but um but. it is something where we have ideas. about protected speech in the United. States and and other western countries.

that are very different from the rules. in uh in places like Indonesia and other. parts of the world. And so, you know, a. lot of countries would say, "Look, we're. not going to uh close our door to you. simply because of something that you did. in another country that they found to be. immoral and we don't." So, you know, our. standards are different, our morals are. different, our norms are different, and. um and there there may be an access for. her to to go somewhere else. So, so. absolutely, I've got clients who who I. can get visas who can't get visas. elsewhere because we have a different.

society. How easy is it to know what the. laws are of another country before you. go in there? >> Very hard. Very hard. It's hard enough. to know what American immigration laws. are for Americans. I mean, it's it's. it's it's kind of all systems of. immigration law are are weird and. archaic because they're built over time, peace meal, based on experiences and. changes of government from year to year. you know, even even here in this country. as we've seen our immigration policies. in 2025 are very different from our.

policies in 2024, you know, so so shifts. like that happen. And so, you know, it's. hard to know even just based on the time. that you're entering the country what. policies are going to be in effect, how. they're going to be enforced, the level. of enforcement. Indonesia is a good. example of that, too, because you know, their enforcement has been ramping up. This this is not something where if you. know you would imagine if Bonnie Louie. did this a few years ago, she probably. would have escaped scrutiny because they. weren't cracking down on on tourists. like they like they are now. And like I. said too, they've got a balance. They.

have to balance the interest of the. tourist industry. They want tourists. Okay? So they they don't want to. discourage people from coming to the. country. They don't want people thinking. that Indonesia is unfriendly to. tourists, but um but they're just trying. to balance that against their their. norms. And and let's be clear, we we we. uh reported earlier on in the week that. the person who essentially turned her in. or the person who was following her was. an expat who was tracking the bus, was. upset about what she was allegedly. doing. And so you have a community that.

maybe doesn't want to see this and is. concerned by this. Um but look, by all. accounts, this appears to be potentially. uh the end of the story. Uh we'll keep a. very careful eye on what should happen. next. I will tell you, Eric, your. breakdown uh was great. Uh we have a. full better understanding of immigration. law, but I also have to say phenomenal. hair. My gosh. I mean, I was I'm. jealous. I'm I'm jealous a little bit. It looks phenomenal. >> Right back at you. Right back at you.

>> You know, and and I think that that's. the most important moral of the story. The Eric Welsh has great hair. Uh thank. you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it. >> My pleasure. Thank you. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.