From the desk of ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI

IT is difficult to imagine a more unsuitable choice of entertainer for the 2025 AFL Grand Final than American rapper, Snoop Dogg. Public evidence of his felonies should preclude him from being part of what the AFL presents as a “family entertainment”.

In 2013, aged 41, Snoop told Rolling Stone editor, Jonah Weiner, 2013: “I put an organisation together (a mobile brothel). I did a Playboy tour (2003) and I had a bus follow me with ten b****s on it. I could fire a b****; f*** a b****; get a new ho(prostitute). It was my progamme. City to city, titty to titty, hotel room to hotel room, athlete to athlete, entertainer to entertainer.” He said: “As a kid I dreamed of being a pimp.”

His movie, Snoop Dogg’s Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp, was the US’s top-selling, pornographic release, 2003. Snoop was not green and in his salad days when he prostituted women. He was a mature, family man, aged 31. Worth an estimated $160-million, between 1990 and 2015 he was arrested multiple times, primarily for drug and firearm offences; consequently, he was denied an Australian entry visa. As society grapples with the “wicked problem” of violence against women, his music has been categorised as anti-social, misogynistic, sexist, homophobic (2014 Instagram), and violent. Ethnicity notwithstanding, he is, emphatically, not “family entertainment”. Objecting to his appearance is not fuelled by racism — casual or blunt, as contended by a former AFLW footballer. The language about, and the violence against, women, is reprehensible — arguably dangerous, and emboldening.

A cursory internet search reveals a litany of alleged wrongdoings: 1990 convicted of felony drug possession and possession for sale. 1993 arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with a shooting. He was later acquitted of the murder charge but faced legal battles for years/Arrested for traffic violation and found in possession of a firearm. 1998-2010 arrested and fined multiple times for misdemeanour possession of marijuana. 2006 arrested at Heathrow Airport in London with his entourage. 2007 pleaded no contest to felony gun and marijuana charges, receiving probation and community service. 2015 arrested in Sweden for illegal drug possession.

Patently, the great Australian inferiority complex is alive and well and flourishing within the hallowed halls of the AFL. Axiomatically, someone at the august organisation is deluded. The successful operating of a smart television, or negotiating television rights for the transmission of the game, does not make for an “entertainment expert”. It is not parochial to posit there are a number of Australian singers/entertainers — arguably, more talented, to fill the gig. Jimmy Barnes may not be everyone’s music milieu, but there is no denying the talent — or the public approval. Father performing with daughter, Mahalia, might prove a hit!

The AFL’s decision is unfathomable. While claiming to be a bastion of social rectitude —implacably propagating a code to achieve sporting equality and diversity, it is flabbergasting they would make such a grotesque selection for the “one day in September”. It defies logic. Snoop Dogg is an acquired musical taste. He is divisive. His lyrics are offensive and abusive and have no place in main-stream Australia — certainly not “live” at the AFL Grand Final. The decision is an aberration; an exemplar of gross miscasting, and insulting of the supporter’s intelligence! Snoop’s offer should be rescinded.

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald radio 3BA — Monday 10.40am. Contact: [email protected]