Coventry rapper Pa Salieu has said he has been "dropped" from performing at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games because of a "failed background check."
The 24-year-old artist was acquitted in March of violent disorder related to a fight in which his friend, Fidel Glasgow, was stabbed to death. He was, however, convicted of possessing a bottle as an offensive weapon, and had previously admitted a second count of violent disorder relating to an attack on a man shortly after the fight. The trial concluded in March and he had been due to be sentenced on the charges that he was convicted for in May, but the sentencing date has repeatedly been postponed, Pa Salieu said.
In an Instagram post, which included footage from a rehearsal for the Commonwealth Games performance, the rapper said: "Yesterday I received a call to say that I’m being removed from the show because I ‘failed a background check’. I can’t keep being silent about this stuff."
Adding that he’s fully cooperated with the court process, the rapper said he’d had to "cancel 90 percent of [his] shows this year" as the Home Office wouldn’t process the required paperwork for him to travel abroad.
"I’ve consistently been trying to use my career to show people where I’m from that there is another life for us," he continued. "One away from the roads. But what can you do if the police, the justice system and the Home Office don’t care about you and put everything possible in your way to stop you trying to get on with your life?
"Next week’s performance should have been a celebration. What is the real reason here? How can you fail a ‘background check’ to perform at a closing ceremony? What does that even mean?"
The Commonwealth Games’ closing ceremony is due to take place at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham this Monday (August 8), and will bring to a close the 11-day sporting competition.
