Rapper The Game is convinced he was turned away from an Australian airport because of his criminal past, not a visa issue.
The Hate It or Love It star flew into Melbourne on Friday on his way to New Zealand but was stopped and told to leave the country by Department of Immigration and Border Protection officials as he had the wrong visas.
That meant his Raggamuffin appearance in Auckland on Saturday was cancelled, an announcement that was booed by fans at the venue.
The Game, real name Jayceon Terrell Taylor, confessed his past legal issues were the cause of the problem.
The Game has been involved in a number of run-ins with the law, and even went to jail for eight days for possessing a firearm in 2007. He is also set to stand trial over allegations he threatened and assaulted an off-duty police officer at basketball game last year.
He admits his behaviour is to blame for the tour cancellation, and he hopes that he can sort all his legal issues and return to Australia in the future."I did some things in the past that sort of limits my travel sometimes," he tells TMZ.com.
"So I'll come back and get it worked out and hopefully everything with my case goes well and I'm able to get back in September before all my fans. I went all the way to Melbourne and then got denied at customs. It happens, man. We'll get back at 'em."
When asked about other rappers being denied entry Down Under, including Tyler, The Creator, The Game replied: "The reason you get denied entry into these countries is because basically cos you f***ed something up in your life. Try to rectify the situation, man. Maybe we all need to prove we (are) better human beings out here man so we don't get denied in these countries where we need to go to earn some money and service these fans."
Raggamuffin promoters promised fans The Game would return in September, and offered ticketholders a 20 per cent discount.
"The Game was 100 per cent approved to enter New Zealand. His management and I know this as fact," Raggamuffin director Andrew McManus said in response to claims the festival had lied to fans.
"We honestly believed The Game would honour his obligations to our festival and it was only when we had our people at the airport on Saturday to pick him up to play Raggamuffin IX did we find out he did not board the plane in Dubai. Statements to the contrary are simply not true.
"At no point would we consider trying to swindle our faithful Raggamuffin family. The whole Raggamuffin team and myself personally are deeply disappointed by what happened yesterday and can only promise, if we can sort things out with The Game and his management, we will do everything we can to make this up to all of his upset and disappointed fans."
