Celebrities that have been banned from entering countries

WHEN travelling, celebrities are known to breeze through the airport, receive first-class treatment during the flight and be greeted at their destination with the flashing lights of cameras and their adoring fans.

But as far as the world's immigration and border control officers are concerned, even the most A-list of celebrities can't charm their way into some places.

These are some of the celebs who have fallen foul of the law and wound up getting themselves banned from various countries, which just goes to show that wealth, fame and a marquee name means nothing at the customs desk.

JUSTIN BIEBER - BANNED FROM CHINA

Justin Bieber meets with fans at the Sunshine Coast Airport.Ashlee Curry

Last week, the bureau said it wasn't appropriate for the Canadian pop star to visit China because of his bad behaviour, and that Biebs needed to improve his conduct and become a singer "truly loved" by the public.

What's more, Bieber's lifestyle overseas and his "words and actions" when he last performed in China had generated "public dissatisfaction", the bureau said, although it didn't specify what behaviour had caused offence. We're not sure if these bizarre pictures from 2013 of Bieber being carried like a doll along the Great Wall had anything to do with it.

LADY GAGA - BANNED FROM INDONESIA

Lady Gaga is a global super star but not in Muslim-majority Indonesia, where Islamic hardliners vowed not to let her into the country for fears the "vulgar" singer would corrupt the nation.

In 2012, Indonesian police said they would not issue a permit for a planned concert in the capital.

Indonesia's hard line Islamic Defenders Front had mounted protests in Jakarta against Lady Gaga, vowing to intercept the Manhattan-born singer at the airport.

"We will stop her from setting foot on our land. She had better not dare spread her satanic faith in this country," FPI Jakarta chairman Salim Alatas said at the time.

"Her style is vulgar, her sexual and indecent clothes will destroy our children's sense of morality. She's very dangerous."

MILEY CYRUS - BANNED FROM CHINA, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

In a statement, Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi said: "Miss Cyrus has made it clear she is no friend of China or anyone of East Asian descent. We have no interest in further polluting our children's minds with her American ignorance."

Cyrus later denied she was making fun of anyone, and the ban was overturned.

But in 2014 Cyrus found herself banned from the Dominican Republic, where government officials said she "undertakes acts that go against morals and customs, which are punishable by Dominican law", according to the Associated Press.

LILY ALLEN - BANNED FROM THE UNITED STATES

The United States is famously out-of-bounds to travellers with criminal records and that includes British singer Lily Allen.

In 2007, the pop star's bid to crack the US market was dealt a heavy blow when she had her American working visa revoked following her arrest for assaulting a photographer in London. She had been cautioned for common assault over the incident. And when attempting to fly from Australia to the US later that year, Allen was searched and detained for five hours at Los Angeles airport.

The US government banned her from working in the country - only four weeks ahead of her North American tour.

RUSSELL BRAND - BANNED FROM CANADA, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA

In 2011, Brand was deported from Japan during a visit with then-wife Katy Perry and just months later, he was banned from entering Canada ahead of a casino gig.

"HELP! I'm gonna be late for Casino Rama show unless someone can force Canadian customs officials to let us land in Orillia,' he tweeted during the 2011 immigration debacle.

Later, he tweeted: "I'm sorry. I can't enter Canada. We must abolish the borders between our nations AND our minds."

Then, in 2013, he was banned from visiting South Africa.

Brand has had a number of run ins with the law, including when a warrant was issued for his arrest in New Orleans in 2012 after he allegedly grabbed a paparazzo's iPhone and threw it through the window of a nearby law firm.

BRAD PITT - PREVIOUSLY BANNED FROM CHINA

Brad Pitt fell foul of the Chinese government simply for starring in the 1997 film Seven Years In Tibet, in which he played a real-life mountaineer who became friends with the Dalai Lama around the time of the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

The film's pro-Tibet independence themes drew the ire of China, which reportedly banned Pitt from entering the country.

In 1997, the state-run China Daily said that Hollywood would "never be forgiven" for a series of films on the region, specifically citing Pitt's movie, along with Free Tibet supporter Richard Gere's film, Red Corner, and Kundun, directed by Martin Scorsese.

Last year, Pitt made his first visit to China in two decades to promote his WWII flick Allied.

SNOOP DOGG - BANNED FROM AUSTRALIA, THE UK, NORWAY AND THE NETHERLANDS

In April 2007, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship banned Snoop Dogg from entering the country, saying he didn't meet the character requirements for a visa.

Snoop was due to perform at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards in Sydney but a spokesman for then-immigration minister Kevin Andrews said Snoop had been issued with a notice of intention to cancel his visa, following his conviction in the US earlier that month for drug and firearm offences. The visa was eventually granted.

But Snoop also been met with trouble while trying to enter Norway, the Netherlands, and the UK. In that instance, in 2006, the rapper and his entourage were accused of vandalising a duty-free shop at Heathrow Airport after being turned away from British Airways' first class lounge. He was allowed back into the UK four years later.

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