After having his visa application formally denied back in September, Chris Brown's tour of Australia and New Zealand has now been officially canceled.The application was initially denied on "character grounds," and Brown was told by the Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, that he had 28 days to show reasons for appeal. But now, Australian ticketing company Ticketek have released an official statement saying that all shows—some of which tickets were still available for up until Tuesday—are now canceled. Refunds have been offered to ticket buyers.Despite touring twice in 2011 and 2012, Brown's visa situation was called into question earlier in the year by an Australian advocacy group called GetUp, who created an e-petition demanding that he be banned from the country. Stating: "If we stand by and do nothing while [Chris Brown] performs around the country (even if we don't have the faintest interest in Brown's career or pop music in general) we are implicitly sending the message that if you brutally beat a woman, in a short amount of time you will be forgiven, or even celebrated."It's a sentiment that was hard to disagree with in some aspects, and difficult to agree with in others. As Noisey writer Emma Garland wrote when the news broke: "It's naive to think that blocking a musician's visa will stop violence against women." Tyler the Creator also had his visa denied in Australia earlier in the summer after action from a similar advocacy group called Collective Shout, again for reasons relating to misogyny. But, as we pointed out in our piece, similar action was never taken when acts outside of rap or R&B, with a history of misogynistic allegations, were looking to tour and play shows in Australia.GetUp, the group which petitioned against Chris Brown, actually issued an official apology for their campaign in October, writing on their website: "We now understand the campaign also supported a racist narrative that sees men of colour unfairly targeted, and stereotyped as more violent than their white counterparts. We all should stand up to any man who commits violence against women, but Australia has a history of arbitrary executive decisions and disproportionate exclusion of non-white people at its borders and upon reflection our approach contributed to this."However, it seems despite all this, the Australian Immigration office has decided to conclude their case against the R&B singer, and it is unknown when his tour of Australia and New Zealand will now take place.Read our preview pieces on visa controversies, "It's Naive to Think That Blocking a Musician's Visa Will Stop Violence Against Women", and "The Banning of Tyler the Creator Reveals a UK Government Struggling to Define Terrorism".
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