Op-Ed: Would Chris Brown be Allowed in Australia if He Were White?

Chris Brown can be a pretty nauseating and despicable figure. Despite his continued success in the marketplace and his contributions as an entertainer, it’s his non-musical headlines that have become his calling card stretching back to the last decade. There have been multiple physical altercations with other artists and fans, the destruction of at least one TV studio, several jail stints, an expulsion from court-ordered rehab, repeated probation revocations, and string of  general social media assholery. Looming over all of this, of course, is ground zero for his fall from teen star to manchild pariah—his 2009 assault on then-girlfriend, Rihanna, which left her bruised for the whole world to see. Brown’s subsequent romance with Karrueche Tran has been marked by uncomfortable possessiveness, stalking, and public hostility. Given such context, it makes sense that Australian Minister for Women Michaelia Cash stated last week that, "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 that we expect in Australia,'” in addressing Australian authorities’ indication that they will refuse his visa application ahead of his One Hell Of A Nite tour hitting their shores in December. (Brown has subsequently offered to speak against spousal abuse if allowed into Australia.)

But the situation is not as cut and dry as the Australian government would have us believe, and it is also complicated, as Julianne Escobedo Shepherd's recent article about the banning of Tyler the Creator makes clear. The decision was presented (and reported by the media) as official policy, a blanket approach to visitation privileges within the commonwealth. But the policy has been far from unilaterally enforced and the pressure to deny Brown’s visa came largely via GetUp!, an Aussie activist group that has waged campaigns in support of Julian Assange, the reduction of reliance on fossil fuels, and same sex marriage. Another organization, Collective Shout, a “grassroots campaigning movement against the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture,” had led petitions seen as responsible for keeping boxer Floyd Mayweather out of the country. 

At a cursory level, all seems legit. Both Brown and Mayweather have convictions for domestic violence and Australia, akin to Donald Trump, doesn’t want the worst kinds of foreigners making their way in. As per Australia’s Migration Act, visas may be rejected “if the person does not satisfy the Minister that the person passes the character test,” or “if the person has a substantial criminal record.” But, like Trump, it appears that the ire is, more often than not,aimed at darker-skinned folk when it comes to deciding who to protect the citizenry from.

While Collective Shout failed at keeping “self-confessed pimp” Snoop Dogg from crossing their borders, they were able to get the Australian Department of Immigration to keep Odd Future’s Tyler, The Creator from performing there, stating that "the content of the product he sells propagates discriminatory ideas about women and other groups, and represents a danger to a segment of the Australian community on the potential basis of incitement to acts of hatred."

Even if Tyler’s shock schtick is more about pushing buttons than condoning actual violence it’s undeniable that the guy has said some pretty sick shit about women. But so has Eminem, who has more abusive punchlines targeting women than any other mainstream rapper. The difference, other than their skin color, is that Eminem is allowed to come and go as he pleases. Collective Shout has a campaign going against Eminem, but GetUp!—which tends to focus on big issues like protecting the Great Barrier Reef, fighting against the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and corporate tax dodging—have yet to say anything about Em’s upcoming February 2016 dates.

After his headline-making 2011 tirade at "Good Morning America", Chris Brown tweeted (and subsequently deleted): "I'm so over people bringing this past shit up!!! Yet we praise Charlie sheen and other celebs for there [sic] bullshit." It’s not a perfect comparison—while Sheen has a horrific history with women full of sordid allegations (including shooting an actress with a .22 caliber handgun) Brown actually admitted guilt to a felony. And, perhaps more telling of how this world works, Brown was never worth as much to his corporate overlords as Charlie Sheen was at his peak. (Nor is he worth as much as Eminem.) Yet death metal band Cannibal Corpse, whose music was once banned in Australia and whose catalog boasts wonderful songs like "Stripped, Raped and Strangled," "Meat Hook Sodomy," "Entrails Ripped from a Virgin's Cunt,"  and "She Was Asking for It,” are given the green light treatment. Black Sabbath, whose frontman Ozzy Osbourne has no small legacy of putting his hands on his wife, Sharon, recently announced an Australian tour and there has been no backlash, as of yet. Motley Crüe performed five dates in Australia this past Spring, despite drummer Tommy Lee’s well-documented violence against Pamela Anderson, and lead singer Vince Neil’s 2011 arrest for battery against an ex-girlfriend. Slash of Guns N Roses was allowed to perform a half-dozen shows on the continent earlier this year, his 1999 arrest for spousal assault notwithstanding.

Collective Shout’s argument has been that they do not have the resources to launch campaigns against each and every women-beating artist who wants to grace Australian shores. GetUp! asserts that they’re using Chris Brown to send a message. But that message seems to be a racialization domestic violence targets—and that message is underscored by the participation of the Australian government. GetUp!’s petition against Chris Brown stated: “We're speaking out against Chris Brown because his casual visit our country would have enormous symbolic significance, which will only be amplified by our silence. By turning a blind eye to his tour, we send a message to survivors of family violence that it's not that important and that you should just get over it.  If we stand by and do nothing while he 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.”

Parsing those words, it seems clear why Brown would be denied entry. There’s no room for redemption in GetUp!’s position. But the statement obfuscates GetUp! and Collective Shout’s seemingly selective (and race-driven) targeting. And it doesn’t jibe with the official position presented by Australian immigration officials who state very clearly that committing an act of domestic violence is grounds for exclusion. It’s okay to agree (or disagree) with the Australian government’s presented stance. It’s even okay (but limiting) to advocate for the perpetual demonization of perpetrators of violence against women. And it’s possible (with some mental contortion) to understand the call for a referendum on all artists with questionable subject matter. But it’s not okay to let the execution of governmental policy to be driven by race. And given the facts, one  truly has to wonder if Australia is judging these acts by the contents of their character, or the color of their skin.