Jelly Roll has admitted he is struggling to book a world tour due to his criminal record.

The Tennessee country singer and rapper (real name Jason DeFord) opened up to Jon Bon Jovi in a conversation with Interview Magazine about his legal issues. DeFord was previously jailed several times, some of which were due to drug charges.

In his interview, DeFord shared he was “figuring out the final pieces of some legal puzzles for me to get overseas,” adding: “It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies.

“We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favour.”

DeFord has previously opened up about his past with drug addiction, sharing his experiences in an emotive plea to Congress to implement anti-fentanyl legislation.

The drug has been in the news frequently of late, such as with the death of rapper Coolio who died after an accidental overdose involving fentanyl last year. Priscilla Presley’s son, Navarone Garibaldi, also opened up recently about his “unbearable” fentanyl addiction which he said nearly killed him and credited his mother for helping him to get clean.

Speaking to the Senate banking, housing and urban affairs committee, DeFord said: “I’ve attended more funerals than I care to share with y’all…I could sit here and cry for days about the caskets I’ve carried of people I love dearly, deeply in my soul. Good people, not just drug addicts. Uncles, friends, cousins, normal people.”

“I brought my community down. I hurt people. I was the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about, just like these drug dealers are doing right now when they’re mixing every drug on the market with fentanyl and they’re killing the people we love.

“I suggest that we stand up and do more as fast as we possibly can.”

The singer was also defended by rapper Flava Flav after he announced he had quit social media due to body-shaming and bullying.

On X/Twitter, Flav said of the bullying: “Y’all gone and bullied one of THE NICEST guys off social media. My man helping so many people every day better their lives,” Flavor Flav wrote in an Instagram Story. “LOVE me some Jelly Roll and Bunnie. NOT COOL.”

He added he “felt the need to stand up for Jelly Roll” as “that man does so much for people and communities through his music and activism.”

In other news, Jelly Roll has performed ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ with Lana Del Rey at Hangout Festival.