Features
The Game In Canada
The Game, birth name Jayceon Terrell Taylor, flew from Los Angeles to Canada April 20 for a series of concert dates but was detained at the border. The rapper eventually tweeted that he was being detained for 14 days until officials decided what to do with him.
But where in Canada? So far, media reports haven’t specified where exactly he’s being held in America’s northern neighbor. Even The Game’s own tweets didn’t specify a point of entry, only identifying his location as Canada, even though his first scheduled appearance was supposed to be in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
But we do have his tweets. Earlier on April 20 he sent a stream of messages via Twitter indicating he was preparing for his journey.
“4/20 in Halifax” he tweeted. “They say Canada got sum good WEED!! Where that shit at?????”
However, The Game also seemed to expect he might experience trouble crossing the border. Shortly after tweeting about the quality of Canada’s cannabis supply, he sent a message claiming he hadn’t been allowed entry into the country since his 2005 album, The Documentary.
He began tweeting his problems with customs officials shortly thereafter. First saying he had been held for three hours, followed by a message saying he had been denied entry. Then he said he was going to be detained for two weeks.
“This just in: I’m being detained in Canada for 14 days until they process my inadmissability then I’ll have a hearing heard by a judge.”
“At that point the judge will decide to either deport me or give me a sentence for violating Canada’s immigrant entry laws.”
It’s the two-week detention that has people wondering. Canadian Border Services Agency representative Patrizia Giolti told LA Weekly that although the country’s privacy laws prevented the agency from disclosing details about The Game’s border problems and that media reports were “not consistent” with their records.
Giotli also told the publication that detained foreign nationals “must have a detention review hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board within 48 hours of their detention.”
Kind of makes you wonder about his claim of being detained for two weeks, doesn’t it?
Meanwhile, AllHipHop.com reports The Game will be returned to California and that the promoter issued a statement saying the shows had been canceled.
Oh, and if you’re wondering how The Game was able to access Twitter while in custody, he sent a message saying they let him call home and tweet before they locked him up.
Then came the final tweet of the day:
“Gotta give up my phone & property. This some straight bullshit ! Flew all the way from LA to be denied and detained ?!?! WTF”
Click here for LA Weekly’s account, here for AllHipHop.com’s report and here for The Game’s Twitter feed.