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Chris Brown’s South Africa Concert Faces Backlash With Petition to Ban Him Getting 28,000+ Signatures

Chris Brown's South Africa concerts have faced backlash as a women's rights advocacy group launched a petition to stop the shows.

Chris Brown’s headed to South African for a pair of concerts in December, but a women’s rights advocacy group has launched a petition seeking to ban him from taking the stage due to his history of alleged abuse. Women for Change started a petition Oct. 2 on Change.org that boasts more than 28,000 signatures as of press time, hoping to stop Brown — who pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, and was sentenced to probation and community labor — from performing in South Africa, which the BBC reports has a long history of abuse and one of the “highest rates of femicide and gender-based violence in the world.” According to the petition, the group wants the promoters, the South African government and organizers to “reconsider” allowing the artist to perform at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium in mid December. “When I saw the news that Chris Brown was coming to South Africa, I was shocked and deeply disappointed,” Women for Change executive director Sabina Walter told the BBC.

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