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Superstar Chris Brown has received new high-profile endorsements – one from the ultra-conservative church leader Brian Tamaki and the other from gay performer Mika. The self-styled bishop has backed Brown and invited him to contribute Destiny Church’s Man Up programme, which aims to help male members of its congregation with troubled backgrounds. Footage: Supplied
NOW PLAYING • Brian Tamaki, Mika support Chris Brown visit
Footage: Supplied ...
Superstar Chris Brown has received two new high-profile endorsements - one from ultra-conservative church leader Brian Tamaki and the other from gay performer Mika.
The self-styled bishop has backed Brown and invited him to contribute Destiny Church's Man Up programme, which aims to help male members of its congregation withtroubled backgrounds.
Brown has yet to apply for a visa to enter New Zealand or Australia, where his promoters have been selling tickets to his One Hell Of A Nite tour.
The tour ran into trouble after Australian politicians - in conjunction with a new programme to tackle domestic violence - said Brown wasn't welcome there.
Tamaki released a video message after being asked how he felt about the "Chris Brown saga" and about his "previous abuse - violence, so-called".
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He said people needed to have patience to accept others even though they had made "mistakes even if it comes to physical violence".
"They're going to need the ability to not just have a second chance. I'm talking about a third, fourth and fifth chance. None of us can actually survive in life with just having another chance. We need more than just one or two chances. All of us make these mistakes."
He said Brown should be given the chance to show he had started the process of reforming, asking: "How can they get the opportunity to believe that they can change to be better people if society continually berates them and shuts the door on them."
If Brown was granted a visa to come to New Zealand, Tamaki wanted him to attend the church's Map Up programme which helped those with alcohol, drugs and violence issues.
The church said it would write a letter of support to accompany Brown's application to Immigration New Zealand.
Singer Chris Brown. Photo / Getty Images
Performer Mika, who is gay and Maori, is at the opposite end of the acceptance spectrum to Tamaki, who has spoken out against homosexuality.
Mika issued a video support message, pointing to his Mika Haka Foundation and saying it worked with predominantly "young brown people" who had been convicted of crimes.
"Let's face it, if he wasn't black he probably would have been let in because there's been a lot of white people - celebrities - who have been let into New Zealand in the last few years with crimes a lot worse than this. Chris Brown, we want you to come to New Zealand.
"I am supporting the tour of Chris Brown because I know what he's doing now - or what he is trying to - repair and change his life if a great thing for young brown men. If we want to stop crime ... want to stop domestic abuse, we need role models like Chris because young brown guys listen to Chris Brown."
Mika's message echoed that of four Maori dames who spoke in support of Brown last week, along with former Women's Refuge chief executive Merepeka Raukawa-Tait.
Brown's tour has sparked debate in New Zealand, with a range of views being offered. Papakura MP Judith Collins, who lost a cousin to spousal violence, said Brown could "bugger off" while the Stop Demand group, which fought to stop Odd Future appearing last year, said Brown's lyrics showed he hadn't reformed.
Brown conviction for the 2009 assault on Rihanna isn't enough to keep him out - and neither are his repeated brushes with the law since. Nothing he has been found to have done reaches the legal benchmark to block him from the country.
However, it is possible his previous failed attempts to enter Canada and the United Kingdom could trigger a section of the Immigration Act which bans people who have failed to enter other countries.
