Chris Brown freed from Philippines as dispute over cancelled gig is temporarily resolved

R&B singer was trapped on the island for three days

Chris Brown has left the Philippines after spending three days stuck on the island due to a dispute over a gig he cancelled in the country on New Year’s Eve.

The R&B singer’s private jet was refused departure by the nation’s immigration bureau over a fraud incident relating to the cancellation of a show on New Year’s Eve last year.

A profanity-filled video on Brown’s Instagram, later deleted, heard him say: “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?” A second video saw him pleading to Barack Obama for help.

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It is alleged by the Maligaya Development Corp that Brown and his promoter, John Michael Pio Roda, took $1m (£650,000) to play at the 55,000 capacity Philippine arena on December 31 2014 but pulled out of the show after receiving the payment in full.

The arena is managed by the Maligaya Corporation, a company owned by the influential Iglesia ni Cristo religious group. Brown stated that he had returned to the Philippines in order to make up for the show he axed last year.

Brown required emigration clearance to leave the Philippines and was left waiting three days while it was sorted out. A spokeswoman for the immigration bureau confirmed to the Guardian that he finally obtained the permission on Friday night (July 24).

The spokeswoman confirmed that the clearance was given after “verifying that Chris Brown has no other derogatory record apart from the [immigration lookout bulletin]”.

Philippines justice secretary Leila de Lima said on Friday that state prosecutors would stage a preliminary investigation into the Maligaya Development Corp complaint.

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