US hip-hop star Chris Brown, barred from leaving the Philippines over a row with a powerful religious sect, insisted in a foul-mouthed rant yesterday that he did nothing wrong.
The 26-year-old’s private jet remains grounded at Manila airport two days after he performed at a concert in the capital, amid a fraud complaint filed against him by the indigenous Christian group Iglesia ni Cristo (“Church of Christ”).
“Can somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on? I don’t know. I’m reading headline after headline. What the fuck? What the fuck is going on,” the pierced and tattooed singer said in a video post on his official Instagram account that later appeared to have been taken down.
Brown, whose profanity-laden catalogue includes songs like Wet the Bed and Body Shots, has 12 million followers on the popular photo-sharing service.
The Philippine Department of Justice said the row erupted after Brown failed to show up for a scheduled New Year’s Eve concert at an Iglesia-owned indoor arena on Manila’s northern outskirts last year.
Earlier press reports quoted Brown saying he was unable to travel to the Philippines at the time because he had lost his passport.
The Philippine Bureau of Immigration said Brown must prove there were no grounds to charge him with fraud before he is allowed to leave the country.
State prosecutors are studying the Iglesia complaint.
The video appeared to have been taken in a hotel room, with soda cans and snacks scattered on tables. His companions were sprawled on couches, wrapped in white blankets.
In a second video post, Brown raised both hands in the air and said: “I didn’t do nothing.”
He then break-danced in front of a giant flat screen television that was showing computer games.
Brown was smiling and appeared playful in both videos, posted in the early hours of yesterday.
The Grammy Award-winning singer has not left the Philippines, contrary to a US media report that he has left for Hong Kong, Philippine Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Elaine Tan said.
Press reports said he was holed up in a Manila hotel two days after his Tuesday concert at another Manila venue.
Calls and e-mails to the Iglesia ni Cristo and to Brown’s spokeswoman and concert promoters seeking comment on the case were unanswered.
Although a minority in the Philippines, where 80 percent of its 100 million people are Catholics, the Iglesia ni Cristo wields considerable political clout.
The sect, which has between 2 million and 3 million members, according to media reports, votes as a bloc during elections. As a result, many politicians are quick to pay the group its respects.
Brown’s botched concert was supposed to be a showcase of the sect’s Philippine Arena, the country’s largest indoor stadium, which was built last year to mark its 100th anniversary.
Fans cheered and jeered Brown on his Instagram posts.
“Pay your debts, estafa [“fraud”] boy,” Erwin John Antonio Capili (threetothehead7) commented.
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