Snoop Dogg confident he will be allowed in the UK

Rapper Snoop Dogg is confident a ruling allowing him to enter the UK will be upheld - despite appeals from British officials to have him barred from the country.

The star - real name Calvin Broadus Jr - was prohibited from entering the country after he was involved in a brawl at Heathrow Airport in April 2006.

That ruling was overturned earlier this year when Snoop wrote to the UK government to ask for his visa ban to be lifted.

But, on Friday, Britain's Border Agency bosses confirmed they will challenge the decision at a hearing this week.

However Broadus remains optimistic he will be allowed in to attend the launch of a cinema advert - in which he plays himself - for cellphone network Orange.

He says: "I'm a be (sic) there (the U.K.) before you know it. Be on the look out for the Big Boss Dogg!"