Chris Brown’s South Africa Concerts Facing Backlash, Petition for Him to Stop Performing Has Over 20,000 Signatures
South African campaigners for women’s rights have created a petition to ban Chris Brown from performing in the country in December.
BBC reports that the advocacy group Women for Change started the petition that currently has more than 20,000 signatures to prevent Brown from performing in a country with one of the highest rates of gender-based violence around the globe.
In less than two hours, Brown’s concert at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg sold out. The fact that he could even perform there is surprising because he’s previously been banned from entering other countries like New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Speaking to BBC about Brown’s upcoming concert, Sabina Walter, the executive director of Women for Change, expressed her frustration. “When I saw the news that Chris Brown was coming to South Africa, I was shocked and deeply disappointed,” she explained. “The petition was started to send a strong message that we will not tolerate the celebration of individuals with a history of violence against women.”
Brown currently has two concerts planned in South Africa — one on Dec. 14, and one on Dec. 15.
Brown’s history of abuse and allegations is set to be covered in the upcoming docuseries, Chris Brown: A History of Violence which airs on Investigation Discovery on Oct 27. In the trailer for the docuseries that released last month, it indicates that it’ll revisit Brown’s earliest domestic violence allegations involving Rihanna and Karrueche Tran.
Near the trailer’s conclusion, an anonymous accuser starts to share a story about the singer, saying, “I have not spoken about this matter publicly, but that’s the only way that he can be stopped.”
“Chris Brown’s past all the way back to his troubled childhood, explores the lasting impact of the cycle of abuse, and poses the question: how does a man with such a violent public record maintain his superstar status?” reads the logline for the documentary. “With expert and cultural commentary layered throughout, the documentary provides thoughtful reflections into each survivor’s experience and the psychological destruction in the aftermath of their abuse.”
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