U.K. TO RULE ON SNOOP DOGG BAN
SNOOP DOGG will find out within weeks whether he can re-enter Britain - t= he U.K. Asylum and Immigration Tribunal is to make a ruling on whether th= e rapper will be allowed back in the country.
The hip-hop star, real name Cordozar Calvin Broadus, is barred from tra= velling to the U.K. after he was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport in= 2006 following a fracas, and he’s previously urged stars including David= Beckham and Sir Paul McCartney to help get the ban overturned.
The Drop It Like It’s Hot hitmaker appealed the ruling and in January 2= 008 Judge Nehar Bird overturned the ban, saying there was no evidence Bro= adus had been responsible for the fracas.
But government officials took the case to the Court of Appeal, where it= was decided that the judge may have "misinterpreted the test of exclusio= n".
Broadus is now fighting for the ban to be lifted once again, reports th= e Wall Street Journal.
The star’s agent, Brent Smith at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment,= says, "Snoop has missed out on several arena tour opportunities, many TV= and festival opportunities, as well as a few proposed charity events… = And now the U.K. taxpayer is financing the court appeals." The battle to overturn the ban has now picked up pace - last month (Jan= 10) a court hearing was held in London, where two senior immigration judg= es watched a video of the airport incident.
In the hearing, the lawyer representing the government, Jeremy Johnson,= claimed the incident shows what happens in the rapper’s world "when some= thing does go wrong. Mr. Broadus may react badly and may threaten violenc= e." But Broadus’ lawyer, Amanda Weston, argued: "This has become a minister= defending a decision rather than a careful review" of the facts. (KD/WSJ=
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