Chris Brown vs offenders NZ has let in

Chris Brown (Reuters)
Chris Brown (Reuters)

Chris Brown is the American singer who badly assaulted his former girlfriend, Rihanna, in 2009.

Today we're debating whether we should let him come here on tour in December.

It's a tricky one. Should we forgive him? Are we being too tough? Do we actually have double-standards?

To help you make up your mind, Story took a look back at whom New Zealand has let in and whom we haven't.

Just last year we said no to rap group Odd Future because of their bad behaviour. The grounds were seen as a "threat to public order".

Their front man, Tyler the Creator, was arrested in Austin just a month later for allegedly inciting a riot.

Back in 2004 David Irving was told he couldn't come in. Irving is not a singer. He wasn't wanted because he is a holocaust denier. Two years later he went to jail in Vienna for that very crime.

Then there was Mike Tyson. The boxer was convicted of rape in 2012. He had two applications for a visa here rejected, despite Willie Jackson trying to argue his cause.

But then there are the people we did let in, who might seem at least as controversial and nasty as Brown.

Eighties rapper Vanilla Ice was twice arrested by police for assaulting his wife. He was allowed in.

Tommy Lee did six months in jail for assaulting his then wife Pamela Anderson. He was allowed in.

Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, Vince Neil from the band Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard's Rick Allen, Axl Rose, his bandmate Slash and James Brown, the old sex machine himself, who apparently hit his wife with a lead pipe and shot at her in their car – all those men either admitted, were accused of, were arrested for or were charged over domestic violence.

Maybe the difference between them and Brown is that you didn't see the damage they did. The photos of what Brown did to Rihanna are all out there on the internet.

Watch the video for the full Story report.