"Pleeeeeeeease let us leave!"
R&B singer Chris Brown has taken to Instagram to beg Obama and anyone else who will listen to help get him out of the Philippines.
Since performing a scheduled tour date in Manila on Tuesday, Philippine officials have not let Brown or his entourage leave the country, according to the Associated Press. Evidently, Brown backed out of a planned New Year's Eve concert in the island nation after being paid $1 million up front. Now they're holding him there while the group who organized the concert, Iglesia ni Cristo, files a criminal complaint with the government for fraud.
Brown has posted a couple of videos to Instagram to raise awareness of his plight, at least one of which has been deleted.
In the most recent video, posted on Thursday, he kneels on the floor with his hands clasped in prayer and yells, "Pleeeeeease let us leave!" over and over again before doing a backflip. The video is captioned "OBAMA!!!!!!!"
He has already had to cancel one tour date because of the holdup. His Hong Kong performance, scheduled for Wednesday night, was moved to Thursday; after it became clear he wouldn't make that one either, it was postponed to an as-yet-unknown date.
He also canceled an upcoming date in Jakarta, Indonesia; though his representatives say that was due to the unrest in the country and not because he's stuck in the Philippines. Brown tweeted about that Tuesday night, saying, "#TeamBreezyJakarta due to safety concerns my show on July 25th will be rescheduled! Let's keep spreading love around the world! #Pray4Peace"
Iglesia ni Cristo, the group responsible for Brown being held in the country, is a powerful religious organization with strong ties to the local government.
Do you think they're right to hold the "Loyal" singer while they work out their dispute?