Chris Brown’s South African Concert in Jeopardy Amid Potential Ban

Chris Brown’s huge concert in South Africa could be canceled due to protest from a women’s rights group. Brown has sold more than 94,000 tickets for the upcoming concert in the country which as a high rate of gender based violence.Women for Change, an advocacy group in the country, has taken a stand against Brown’s concert in the country, starting a petition to stop the concert. Their petition has reached 20,000 signatures.

Per the publication, executive director Sabina Walter said, “When I saw the news that Chris Brown was coming to South Africa, I was shocked and deeply disappointed.

She added: “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. When someone like Chris Brown is given a platform in a country where GBV is at crisis levels, it sends a damaging message – that fame and power outweigh accountability.”

She went on to note that fans of Brown are defending him and want the concert to take place.

“Supporters of Chris Brown seem ready to defend him at any cost,” she said.

She added, “The criticism we are facing for our petition speaks volumes and actually reveals a deep disconnect in how we, as a society, view violence against women.”

The backlash against the Fine China hitmaker comes after he assaulted Rihanna when she was his girlfriend in 2009. Chris Brown was 19-years-old at the time and went on to plead guilty, receiving a sentence of five years probation, community service and counselling.