Snoop Dogg will be permitted to tour Australia with Ice Cube in October, having been granted a visa.

The rapper, real name Calvin Broadus, can now embark on a series of concerts after immigration officials conducted an assessment of his character.

He received clearance for the dual headlining tour in August, just a year after he was refused permission for a visa application to host the MTV Australia Video Music awards.

But following a spate of public complaints about his criminal record, immigration officials announced a plan to reconsider their decision.

“The department weighed his criminal convictions against his previous behavior while in Australia,” said a department statement on Thursday.

The 36-year-old’s “charity work” and “any likely risk to the Australian community” were assessed, the statement explained.

“We took into account all relevant factors and, on balance, the department decided to grant the visa.

“Mr Broadus will need to abide by Australia’s laws and he will be formally counselled before his arrival about his visa conditions and our expectations relating to his conduct.”

Australian actor and Oscar-winner Russell Crowe wrote to the department of immigration during their assessment in support of Snoop Dogg’s visa application.

“I submit to you that Snoop Dogg poses no threat to Australia or to any individual in this country,” he said.

Snoop was sentenced to five years of probation relating to gun and drug charges in April 2007 and was denied entry to Australia later that month, after the country’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship cited concerns regarding his previous criminal convictions.

He was also cautioned for affray at London’s Heathrow airport in April 2006, when Snoop and his entourage vandalized a duty-free store by throwing whisky bottles after some members of the group had been denied entry to the British Airways first class lounge as they were flying in economy class.

Complaining about the August 2008 decision to allow Snoop Dogg into Australia, Angela Conway, of the Australian Family Association, told the Herald Sun newspaper: “Snoop Dogg trades in toxic messages of menace, violence, misogyny and lawlessness.”

Source

WENN

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