The laid-back rapper, real name Calvin Broadus Jr, was arrested in September 2006 at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport for carrying an illegal baton. After pleading guilty to the offence, Snoop was ordered to perform 160 hours of community service. He will collect litter, rake leaves and paint benches in an unnamed California park.

Snoop is no stranger to brushes with the law. He has been arrested twice in the past 12 months for possession of firearms and marijuana and banned from entering Australia on character grounds. In April 2006, Snoop and his entourage were involved in a famous fracas at Heathrow Airport after some members of the group were refused entry into a first class lounge. As they were escorted away, they vandalized a duty free shop by throwing whiskey bottles.

Celebrities in the community

Snoop is not the first famous face forced to perform community service. In March 2007, Naomi Campbell was forced to undertake five days of sweeping and mopping floors as punishment for throwing a mobile phone at hotel maid Ana Scolavino. In 2006, 80s pop star Boy George was ordered to sweep the streets of New York City for a week after pleading guilty to wasting police time.

Watch: Boy George perform community service in New York

Manchester United icon Eric Cantona was ordered to perform 120 hours of community service following his infamous kung-fu kick aimed at Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons in January 1995. The flamboyant Frenchman was also fined £20,000 and banned from football for nine months.

Perhaps the most famous story relating to celebrity community service is that of 90s UK chart-topper Mark Morrison. The Return of the Mack singer was dogged by a string of arrests throughout his mid-nineties heyday. Most famously, he was sentenced to a year in prison in 1998 for violating a community service order imposed upon him in 1995. Morrison had paid a double to complete the community work on his behalf while he fled to Barbados.