Bishop and gay icon stand in Brown’s corner

Superstar Chris Brown has received new high-profile endorsements — one from the ultra-conservative church leader Bishop Brian Tamaki and the other from gay performer Mika.

The bishop has invited Brown to contribute to Destiny Church’s Man Up programme, which aims to help male members of its congregation with troubled backgrounds.

Bishop Tamaki put out a video message after being asked how he felt about the “Chris Brown saga” and about his “previous abuse — violence, so-called”.

He said all people needed to have patience to accept people even though they had made “mistakes even if it comes to physical violence”.

He said Brown should be given the chance to show he had started the process of reforming.

If Brown was granted a visa, Bishop Tamaki said, he wanted him to come to the church’s Man Up programme, which includes participants with alcohol, drugs and violence issues.

The church has said it would support Brown’s visa application.

Maori performer Mika might normally be expected to be at odds with Bishop Tamaki, who has spoken out against homosexuality. But on this score he issued a video support message, pointing to his Mika Haka Foundation and saying it worked with predominantly “young brown people” who had been convicted of crimes.

“I am supporting the tour of Chris Brown because I know what he’s doing now, or what he is trying to — repair and change his life — is a great thing for young brown men.

“If we want to stop crime . . . want to stop domestic abuse, we need role models like Chris because young brown guys listen to Chris Brown.”

Mika’s message echoed that of four Maori dames who spoke in support of Brown last week, along with former Women’s Refuge chief executive Merepeka Raukawa-Tait.

Brown has yet to apply for a visa for New Zealand or Australia, where his promoters have been selling tickets to his One Hell Of A Nite tour.

His assault conviction isn’t enough to keep him out — and neither are his repeated brushes with the law since.

However, it is possible his previous failed attempts to enter Canada and the UK could trigger a section of the Immigration Act which bans people who have been refused entry to other countries.