Yesterday, Tone Deaf reported on a campaign targeting posters advertising Chris Brown’s forthcoming Australian tour. Posters promoting the R&B singer’s Melbourne show at Rod Laver Arena were defaced with stickers reading, “I Beat Women”.
The sticker refers to the singer’s bashing of his then-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009. The highly publicised assault saw Brown sentenced to five years probation, one year of domestic violence counselling, and six months of community service.
The announcement of Brown’s upcoming tour has caused outrage amongst many Australians, with News Corp‘s Tyson Wray asking how we can “allow a convicted domestic violence abuser, a homophobe and a misogynist who promotes rape culture to visit our shores”.
Meanwhile, online activist collective GetUp! have launched a petition urging our immigration minister to deny Brown a visa on the grounds that he has a “substantial criminal record” and is therefore in breach of the Australian visa character test.
However, it now appears as though those behind Brown’s tour, which is set to kick off this December, are attempting to silence the backlash. According to ABC News, at least one defaced Melbourne show poster has been replaced.
Image via FasterLouder
As ABC note, the Melbourne initiative is not the first time Brown has been the target of a sticker campaign centring on his history of domestic violence. In 2012, activists placed stickers reading “Warning – do not buy this album! This man beats women” on Brown CDs at a London record store.
“Chris Brown’s Australian tour was announced last Thursday night, and immediately we got a couple of emails from Get Up members asking if we were going to do something,” Get Up campaigner Sally Rugg told 774 ABC Melbourne.
Rugg said anyone who wishes to obtain an Australian visa must pass a character test, which precludes anyone with a substantive criminal record. Activist group Collective Shout attempted to ban rapper Tyler, The Creator on similar grounds earlier this year.
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“If we stand by in silence while Chris Brown is allowed to come in and tour the country, we are implicitly sending this message … that if you brutally assault a woman, it will not be too long before all is forgiven and forgotten,” Ms Rugg said.
Meanwhile, the immigration minister for New Zealand has said the country will not grant Brown a visa, as he had already been barred from entering the UK on character grounds. “We are really hoping that Australia falls in line with our peers and also refuses him,” Ms Rugg said.
Speaking to the Herald Sun, a spokeswoman for Westgate, the promoters behind Brown’s Australian tour, indicated there would not be any issues when it comes to the singer’s entry into Australia and that his 2011 arena tour and a 2012 festival appearance went off without a hitch.
Brown’s tour has even caught the attention of Australia’s new minister for women, Michaelia Cash. “I can assure you that the minister for immigration and border protection will be looking at this very, very seriously,” Cash said, via The Guardian.
“I am clearly not going to pre-empt a decision by the minister, however, I can assure you what my strong recommendation would be.” Cash made it clear that she was familiar with Brown’s record and it would be taken into consideration.
“People need to understand if you are going to commit domestic violence and then you want to travel around the world, there are going to be countries that say to you ‘You cannot come in because you are not of the character we expect in Australia,’” Cash said.
