Snoop Dogg may finally be allowed into Britain

Snoop Dogg should hear in the next few weeks whether he is allowed to enter Britain again, almost four years after a fracas with police at Heathrow airport led to him being banned from the country.

The controversial US rapper, reality TV star and porn actor – once dubbed by Australian immigration authorities, where he also had visa troubles, "not the sort of bloke we want in this country" - may finally find himself welcome in Britain, the Wall Street Journal reports.
 
Lawyers for the hip-hop godfather, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr, have been wrangling with the UK Border Agency since an April 2006 incident when BA staff refused some of his 30-strong entourage permission to enter a first-class lounge. After the dispute arose, the airline staff threw the entire group - which included hairdressers, dancers and sound engineers - out of the lounge, and police were called.
 
Around 20 armed officers descended on the 6ft 3in rapper, and led his entourage through the airport. A scuffle broke out, with Broadus himself being pushed to the ground by two officers wielding batons. This part of the incident was caught on video (see above). He was detained overnight, but released with a caution when he admitted using insulting language. However, he insisted he had no intention to cause - or threaten - violence.
 
Broadus was only in the UK on that occasion to catch a flight to South Africa. But a year later, he was due to visit the country to perform and to speak at an event discouraging young people from getting involved in gang violence. He found himself refused a visa because of the 2006 "fracas" and other factors. The authorities invoked a rule which allows them to ban "undesirables", citing not only the police caution, but also the rapper's chequered past, which included US convictions and, at the time, outstanding charges for possession of drugs and firearms.
 
The ban cost Broadus an estimated $16m in lost ticket sales and even more in knock-on sales of CDs and merchandise. He appealed the decision and was rewarded: in January 2008 Judge Nehar Bird overturned the ban, saying there was no evidence he had been responsible for public disorder. She went even further, saying the scuffle in the airport was "precipitated by decisions made by BA staff and the police".
 
The authorities asked for another assessment by another judge – and when this also went in Broadus's favour, they went to the Court of Appeal. The case rumbles on, and last month was still being heard when the Government's lawyer, Jeremy Johnson, said the Heathrow incident showed that "when something does go wrong, Mr Broadus may react badly and may threaten violence". He argued that Snoop Dogg was an influential figure with fans on the fringes of gang culture.

Broadus's lawyer fired back that some of his fans were dentists. "Is there a link there?" she asked, before concluding: "This has become a minister defending a decision rather than a careful review."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Broadus has won the latest round in his long-running battle with the UK Border Agency. He will now be able to apply for a visa to enter the UK after two senior immigration judges decided border authorities were "wrong" to deny the rap star entry into Britain in 2007. The UK Border Agency says it is considering whether to appeal the decision. ·