Petition To Cancel Snoop Dogg Australian Tour Gathers Steam

An online petition has been launched on Change.org campaigning for Snoop Lion’s (formerly Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus) visa to be revoked, ahead of his headlining Australian tour and Big Day Out 2014 set later this month.

The petition was initiated by Talitha Stone, the same activist who lead a similar campaign against Tyler, The Creator last year and it directly appeals to the Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to deny Snoop a visa for his promotion of hate speech against women, citing songs like Break A Bitch ’til The Day I die and Can You Control Yo Hoe?

The petition also references a recent interview with Rolling Stone, where the rapper admits to being a real life pimp, selling women to entertainers and athletes during his 2003 US tour. “I did a Playboy tour, and I had a bus follow me with ten bitches on it. I could fire a bitch, fuck a bitch, get a new ho: It was my program,” he said.

“You would think that given the high rates of violence against women in Australia (costing our economy around $13.6 billion a year) we would work to reduce the cultural environment which tacitly approves these crimes,” writes Stone in the current petition. “Instead we do the complete opposite and provide a platform for glamourizing violence against women.”

Snoop has run into immigration issues in Australia before, in 2007 his visa was revoked ahead of his visit to co-host the MTV Australia Video Music Awards. Then Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Snoop Dogg’s visa was canceled because of his extensive criminal record. His visa was reinstated in 2008 following a “full character assessment.” Snoop has also been denied entry into Britain, Norway and the Netherlands.

Following her campaign against Tyler, The Creator last year, Talitha Stone was subjected to hordes of abuse from angry fans, including threats of death and rape. Some of that even came from Tyler himself, who used the stage of his Sydney show to dedicate a song to Stone then hurled a tonnage of misogynistic slurs at her.

The petition is just 17 signatures away from reaching its 2500 target, though it’s not clear how or if the Federal Government will respond to its demands. Snoop Lion is scheduled to appear at the Big Day Out 2014 and his own headlining shows later this month.

UPDATE 2.56pm 15/01/14: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that Snoop Dogg has a visa and will be allowed to tour Australia.

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