British rapper Pa Salieu has claimed that he has been dropped from a planned performance at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony because "failed a background check." The rapper was due to appear at the event, which marks the end of the international athletics event on August 8 and is being held in Birmingham, England near to his home town Coventry.
Posting about his experience on Instagram, Pa Salieu shared footage of rehearsals alongside a statement in which he explained that "Yesterday I received a call to say that I’m being removed from the show because I ‘failed a background check’." He added that the "performance should have been a celebration." Read Next: Mura Masa recruits Pa Salieu and Skillibeng on “blessing me” As The Guardian reports, in March the 24-year-old was acquitted of engaging in violent disorder during a mass brawl.
The allegation stemmed from an incident in which his friend Fidel Glasgow was stabbed and killed. Though acquitted on one charge, he was 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 brawl.
Five months after the trial concluded he is still awaiting sentencing, with a May date postponed indefinitely. The unknown result of this sentencing, Pa Salieu, claims is what cost him his spot at the closing ceremony as well as a number of other live events this summer as the U.K.
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