Chris Brown denied visa, UK tour cancelled

Bad news for fans of pop stars with domestic violence convictions: Chris Brown has been refused a working visa by the Home Office, meaning his UK tour, due to begin in Glasgow tonight, has been cancelled.

Brown, you’ll no doubt remember, was convicted of ‘assault likely to cause great bodily harm’ in August last year for beating his then girlfriend Rihanna unconscious and leaving her slumped on the pavement during an argument as they travelled home from a pre-Grammy Awards party in February 2009. He was sentenced to five years’ probation, 180 days of community service and a year of domestic violence counselling.A statement published by tour promoters SJM Concerts initially put the cancellation down simply to ‘unforeseen circumstances’. However, both Sony Music and the Home Office later confirmed that Brown had been barred from entering the country.Both the promoters and the label seem confident that any issues will be ironed out, SJM telling fans that ‘there will be more news in the forthcoming days of possible rearranged dates’ and Sony Music saying: ‘Chris looks forward to performing for his fans abroad in the near future’.In its own statement, the Home Office said: ‘We reserve the right to refuse entry to the UK to anyone guilty of a serious criminal offence. Public safety is one of our primary concerns. Each application to enter the UK is considered on its individual merits’.Presumably the Home Office isn’t actually concerned that Brown is going to come over here and wander the streets battering women as he goes, but is, rather, more worried about the message it would send out if it let a rich celebrity guilty of such shocking violence to just enter the country no questions asked. – newsblog.thecmuwebsite.com

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