Chris Brown has been barred from leaving the Philippines.

AFP/Manila

In a desperate appeal punctuated with a backflip, stranded Grammy-winning star Chris Brown got down on his knees on Friday to beg Philippine authorities to let him go and resume his world tour.

The 26-year-old American has been barred from leaving the Southeast Asian nation after a politically influential sect filed a fraud complaint, demanding a million-dollar-plus refund after he skipped a New Year's Eve concert last year.

"Please, please, let us leave, please," Brown said in a video posted on his official Instagram account. The post was later taken down.

Brown went down on his knees in what appeared to be his hotel room. He ended the plea with his signature backflip.

He also appeared to send a thinly veiled distress signal to US President Barack Obama as he captioned the Instagram video post: "OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!"

In two subsequent Twitter posts Brown said: "This is a very serious situation and someone needs to be held accountable for mixing my name up in all this. I've done nothing wrong!!!"

"I have nothing to do with anything going on right now. I came back to Manila to do a make-up show for New Years. I did the show three years ago," he said.

Brown performed to a packed crowd at a Manila arena on Tuesday.

But he failed to show up on December 31 last year for another concert sponsored by the indigenous Christian group Iglesia ni Cristo at its mammoth 55,000-seater indoor stadium on Manila's outskirts.

He has reportedly said he lost his passport at the time so he could not travel.

The justice department barred him from leaving unless he can produce a document certifying he has no legal obligations in the country.

The immigration bureau has said Brown has not applied for such a document, and the justice department on Thursday appointed a state prosecutor to prepare the filing of fraud charges against him.

Both Twitter posts were re-tweeted close to 2,000 times just minutes after the hip hop star uploaded them.

He has more than 14mn followers on the micro-blogging site, and 12mn on the photo-sharing platform Instagram.

A playful and bewildered Brown posted a foul-mouthed rant on his Instagram on Thursday as he break-danced apparently to make light of his predicament.

But Brown's tone was more serious on Friday, as his failure to leave the Philippines might compromise the upcoming stops of his world tour.

Brown is scheduled to perform in Israel and Cyprus next week before returning to the US for more concert dates, according to his website.

Asked about Brown's case, US embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer told AFP on Friday: "The embassy assists its citizens who are in need."