More problems for Snoop downunder

DrWu

Penal Colony Hypocrisy April 26, 2007, 8:35 am The Anti-Snoop Dogg AxisBy Mike NizzaTags: australia, hip hopIn its current ad campaign, Australia???s tourism commission tries to lure visitors to the country with a question that only sounds funny and strangely inviting in the native accent: ???So Where the Bloody Hell Are You????Off the Oz list. (Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)Today, though, one person was officially disinvited. The global movements of Snoop Dogg, one of the giants of hip-hop, were limited further when the Australian immigration minister barred him from the country. He was already banned from Britain over a scuffle at Heathrow airport.???He doesn???t seem the sort of bloke we want in this country,'??? the immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, said during an interview on an Australian radio station.During his last visit, when he performed at a ???Good Vibrations??? concert, Snoop Dogg was issued a warning for overstaying his visa by two days, the minister said. At that time, his ???string of convictions??? and often-mentioned gang membership were said to be pushing the limits of the ???character test.??? Felony gun and drug charges filed against the rapper in the United States earlier this month appeared to have broke the camel???s back from the Australian point of view. Snoop Dogg did not contest the charges, and was sentenced to 800 hours of community service and five years??? probation, The Associated Pressreported in a dispatch that also lists many of his prior legal troubles.Snoop Dogg had been scheduled to be a co-host of the MTV Australia Awards program on April 29; the music network is working to appeal the exclusion decision so that he can appear. Australia???s Daily Telegraph called the appeal ???a long shot.???Comments over at that newspaper???s site included a mixture of support for Snoop, criticism of hip-hop and criticism of the government.One commenter, no doubt alluding to the ???significant risk that the person will engage in criminal conduct??? clause of the character test for admission to the country, was incredulous: ???Does anyone actually believe Snoop???s coming here to cause any trouble? Gang bang with the Sydney Crips???? The American hip-hop blog Nah Right was the first to lob a diss back in Australia???s direction: ???Wasn???t Australia like a freaking penal colony or something way back when????