The Doggfather himself, Snoop Lion, is due to touch down in Australia in a matter of days to perform as part of the Big Day Out 2014 lineup and a series of headline sideshows, but an campaign is making a last-ditch effort to stop the rapper from exiting his aircraft when he lands on Aussie soil.
The online campaign looking to ban Snoop (real name Calvin Broadus) from touring Australia comes via a Change.org petition urging Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to revoke Broadus’ visa on the basis of his lyrical content and misogynistic attitudes, as InTheMix reports.
The petition cites lyrics from 2005 track ‘Can You Control Yo Hoe?’ and a 2006 Rolling Stone interview in which Snoop claimed to run a pimping racket where “he transported women around the country selling their bodies to athletes and entertainers” as key examples of the how the rapper “promotes hate speech against women.”
The campaign is being led by activist Talitha Stone, the same Sydney resident who spearheaded a similar campaign to deport Odd Future leader Tyler, The Creator during his Australian tour last June, emphasising that “[Snoop] is famous for his misogynistic lyrics” and urges Minister Morrison to contravene plans to “welcome this US rap artist and self-confessed pimp to our shores.”
UPDATE 15/1: Despite Ms Stone’s Change.org petition successfully breaching it’s 2,500 goal, to a total tally of over 3,100 signatures (at the time of writing),Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that “Snoop Dogg has a visa.”
According to Sydney Morning Herald, a statement from Morrison’s office confirms that the rapper had been assessed under the same “mandatory health and character requirements” that all vistors to Australia must satisfy and had been officially issued a visa for his Big Day Out Tour.
The statement did add however, that Snoop “had been warned any infringements will lead to visa cancellation.”
Ms Stone will be none-too-happy about the rapper being granted entry into the country, telling Fairfax : “He makes porn videos and brags that he has a bus behind him with 10 bitches on it and sells their bodies to athletes. He’s a popular artist and people look up to him as a role model but he’s promoting and encouraging these things. Why are we so lenient?… Look at his criminal record, he’s living this out.”
ORIGINAL STORY: It wouldn’t be the first time that the American rapper’s music and lifestyle has rubbed immigration the wrong way, as the Change.org petition points out; “Snoop Dogg has been refused entry to Australia before because of his criminal history. Britain, Norway and the Netherlands also wouldn’t let him in.” “Welcoming artists like Snoop Dogg sends a message that we don’t take our obligations to address violence against women seriously.”
In 2007 alone, Snoop Dogg was banned from the UK, The Hague in the Netherlands, and had his visa to attend the Australian edition of the MTV Music Awards revoked the same year.
“He doesn’t seem the sort of bloke we want in this country,” remarked then-Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stating: “This man has been a member of a Los Angeles gang – and is still associated with it apparently – that’s been involved in murder, robberies and drug dealings in the LA area.”
The Australian ban was lifted in 2008 after a “full character assessment” was conducted by the Immigration Department, while the 41-year-old Broadus faced a two-year ban from touring Norway after being busted for drug possession and carrying more money than is legally allowed in an incident that shortly followed his reggae-fied Snoop Lion reinvention.
The Change.org petition is just 55 signatures away from its 2,500 target at the time of writing, with just four days left until Snoop Dogg headlines a Marquee triple bill show (alongside Big Day Out 2014 billed acts Major Lazer and Flosstradamus) in Brisbane on Saturday 18th January.
The full Big Day Out 2014 tour then officially kicks off the following day, at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast, before making its way around the country, while Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion) also plays dates with fellow rapper Mac Miller in Sydney and Melbourne later this month.
“Snoop Dogg’s presence here would contradict the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children,” reads the petition, referencing the Government plan
“As a society which claims to be serious about eradicating violence against women, there should be no place for recording artists who glorify misogyny and degrade women for entertainment. Welcoming artists like Snoop Dogg sends a message that we don’t take our obligations to address violence against women seriously.”
Big Day Out 2014 Dates, Tickets
View Timetables and Maps here.
Friday 17th January ~ Western Springs, Auckland*
Sunday 19th January ~ Metricon Stadium & Carrara Parklands, Gold Coast
Friday 24th January ~ Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Sunday 26th January ~ Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney
Friday 31st January ~ Bonython Park, Adelaide**
Sunday 2nd February ~ Claremont Showgrounds, Perth**
*For New Zealand Big Day Out 2014 lineup and ticketing details, please refer to www.bigdayout.com and choose AUCKLAND
**Subject to council approval
Tickets and info at www.bigdayout.com
Snoop Dogg & Mac Miller Big Day Out 2014 Sideshows
Wednesday, January 22 – Palace, Melbourne
www.oztix.com.au
Saturday, January 25 – Enmore, Sydney
www.ticketek.com.au
Snoop Dogg, Major Lazer & Flosstradamus Big Day Out 2014 Sideshow
Saturday, January 18 – Marquee, Brisbane
www.oztix.com.au
