How is Chris Brown still this popular?

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On Saturday, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, onstage at AT&T Stadium in skinny jeans and a tie-up crop top, told the crowd around her, “Right now, we are experiencing Black joy to the highest level!”

Inside the building, it was an uncontroversial, if not obvious, thing to say. Crockett was marking the stadium’s second night of Usher and Chris Brown’s wildly popular, high-energy R&B Tour, named after the singers’ genre and their last names, Raymond and Brown. In a raucously interactive performance, the two stars mix their vocal prowess with a “Magic Mike”–esque dance show, pulling women from the crowd to join in the gyrating and grinding. Promoting the tour on Instagram, Brown posted a close-up of his hips mid-thrust, hand grabbing his crotch, gathering more than 160,000 likes in a single day.

“And I wanted to make sure we document that in the Congressional Record,” Crockett continued onstage, joined by Brown and Texas State Rep. Venton Jones. “We’re here because of Chris Brown!”

Texas Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett has come under fire after she appeared on stage with Chris Brown and pledged to enter him into the congressional record.

Outside the arena, people — Black women in particular — were less enchanted. In social media posts, Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross called the declaration “a ridiculous move,” saying, “Using the weight of a Congressional role to uplift a known abuser of women is disgusting.” Writer Roxane Gay called it a “bizarre and unacceptable misstep.”

Jones issued an apology for his participation, writing, “I want to acknowledge the women, the Black women, whom my actions have hurt.” Crockett did not respond to requests for comment and has not publicly addressed the incident. Brown and Usher did not respond to requests for comment.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article quotes language that may be offensive to readers.

Crockett had stepped her sparkly silver ankle boots into a bitter cultural divide: the split between those who view Brown as a beloved singer, dancer and “King of R&B,” and those who see him as a notorious abuser.

For the latter group, the images that define Brown are the photos from 2009 of his then-girlfriend Rihanna, her face swollen and bloody from Brown punching her in a car following a pre–Grammy Awards party .

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Rihanna later said she forgave Brown, and Brown fans will note that he turned himself in and pleaded guilty in that assault case, though he initially pleaded not guilty before being offered a plea deal that included five years’ probation, 1,400 hours of “labor-oriented service” and a counseling program.

But through the years, complaints and accusations kept accumulating.

In 2013, a woman accused Brown of assaulting her in a night club, though a representative for Brown told CNN in 2024 that the accusation was “totally false and unfounded” and charges were ultimately not filed.

In 2016, former beauty pageant winner Baylee Curran alleged that Brown had pulled a gun on her, although Brown maintained his innocence and the story was never corroborated. Again, charges were never filed, and Brown began selling T-shirts reading “This B!tch Lyin’.”

In 2017, a judge granted a five-year restraining order for ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran, who alleged Brown had made violent threats against her. Brown did not comment on the restraining order at the time.

In 2022, another woman sued Brown for allegedly drugging and raping her in 2020 while on a yacht owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs. An attorney for Brown has said the claims were “entirely fabricated,” and the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge that same year, citing lack of prosecution.

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Brown has also been accused in other instances of violence. Most recently, in July, Brown pleaded guilty to affray in a 2023 incident at a London nightclub, in which prosecutors said Brown used a glass bottle to hit a man twice on the head . In 2024, a group of concertgoers filed a lawsuit against Brown alleging he and his team threw a chair at a person’s head and spent over 10 minutes stomping and punching another person’s head and chest while backstage following a show . In a statement at the time, Brown’s attorney maintained that Brown never initiated physical contact.

Since the incident with Rihanna, Brown has defended his innocence in nearly every situation, and his fans (139 million of them on Instagram alone, affectionately called Team Breezy) have chosen to defend him in turn.

He has also released platinum album after platinum album, climbing the charts again and again on his own while collaborating with an all-star roster of other performers. Just two years after the incident with Rihanna, while still on probation, Brown released the album “F.A.M.E.,” which became his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and brought him his first Grammy win, for best R&B album. On Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, he’s tied with Lil Wayne for the second most No. 1 songs, just behind Drake . He’s been nominated at the BET Awards every year since 2010. In 2023, he won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Male Artist. His last tour, 2025’s Breezy Bowl XX, was one of the highest grossing tours of the year.

The allegations of partner abuse likewise don’t seem to sully the fantasy fueled by his onstage presence and his music. At a recent concert, a fan held a sign reading : “Since u canceled my meet and greet, can you pls grab my a** Chris Brown?”

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Millennials, especially Black Millennials to whom Brown was most heavily marketed, felt they grew up as Brown was growing up, said Jenessa Williams, a music journalist and researcher who has studied Brown’s fandom.

Brown was 16 years old when his 2005 debut single, “Run It!,” became a sleeper hit, climbing the Billboard Hot 100 charts over the course of a few months on its way to eventually claiming the top spot . Despite his age, he released a documentary DVD titled “Chris Brown’s Journey” in 2006 and later that year, he embarked on his first headlining tour. Between 2005 and 2007, Brown was on everything from “Soul Train” to “Sesame Street.” He was dancing, singing, even acting: in 2007, he made his film debuts in “Stomp the Yard” and “This Christmas.”

Before he was 18, he was nominated for two Grammy Awards: best new artist, which he lost to Carrie Underwood, and best contemporary R&B album, which he lost to Beyoncé’s “B’Day.”

Destinee Lewis, a fan of Brown since she was 6 years old, remembers watching his music videos on TV and mimicking Brown’s dance moves.

“There was a time where he was everywhere,” Lewis said.

To devoted fans, that era never really ended. “When there is a transgression, there’s that sort of discomfort of disavowing the person, because it also means disavowing your own memories of that time,” Williams said. “So much of it is about that idea of someone being frozen in the teen time of when you discovered them and wanting to protect that particular image. That I think is a really big deal in his case.”

The assault on Rihanna took place when Brown was 19, and he repeatedly apologized for it. But the subsequent allegations have been less clear-cut, and Brown has instead maintained his innocence. Beyond the 2022 case dismissal, in other instances, charges were never filed, information has come out clouding an accuser’s story, or Brown has counter-sued for defamation — details which complicate each story.

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As a result, Brown has positioned himself as someone who has stayed defiant in the face of those who would unfairly try to bring him down.

“If yall still hate me for a mistake I made as a 17year old please kiss my whole entire ass !” he wrote in 2023 , shaving two years off the actual age he was when he hit Rihanna, after fans criticized singer Chloe Bailey for collaborating with him. “Where are the cancel culture with these white artist that date underage women, beat the fuck out their wives, giving bitches AIDS.”

The next year, when he claimed he had been “uninvited” from the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game because of sponsor interests, he wrote , “I’m tired of living in the fucking past.”

“He’s continued to be very unapologetic in his public image, and very much fed this narrative that he is being unfairly targeted, unfairly scapegoated, treated more harshly than other artists,” Williams said. “He’s given his fans quite a lot of narrative to run with.”

Brown’s protection doesn’t exist without historical scaffolding. Sociologist Beth Richie coined the term “trap of loyalty,” referring to the responsibility Black women feel to protect Black men in the face of anti-Black systems. Studies have shown that Black people, particularly men, are more likely to be wrongfully convicted than white people and also spend more time in prison before being exonerated.

False accusations have also been used as tools of racism, said Rebecca Wanzo, professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Washington University — most notably the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till .

Brown publicly aligns himself with this context, and his largely female fanbase “goes a long way in making him OK,” Wanzo said.

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“When someone gives a fan pleasure, they have a hard time believing bad things,” Wanzo said. “They have a hard time letting go of their love objects.”

Such forgiveness or denial is not exclusive to Brown, Wanzo said. Roman Polanski, the award-winning Polish-French filmmaker who was arrested for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977 and then fled the United States, has been defended by A-list filmmakers, actors and other members of the global film industry .

Brown has his industry defenders, too. R&B legend Monica called him “the greatest entertainer” on Earth and said his voice makes any song better . After Brown was booed for winning an American Music Award in 2022, Kelly Rowland accepted the award for him and thanked him for making great R&B music .

Even without outright statements of support, Brown has in recent years collaborated not just with Chloe Bailey, but with Drake, Ciara, H.E.R, Jack Harlow, Bryson Tiller and other industry stalwarts.

Given that Usher was happy to tour with Brown, Crockett’s presentation could be read as less of a misstep and more as someone simply following the crowd.

Brown’s response to the backlash against Crockett, and by extension him, echoed his previous statements.

“My shows in Dallas were already sold out. I ain’t ask to be honored,” he said. “How about yall leave me the fuck alone and let me focus on the fans that spent their money to actually see and support me.”

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周六，德克萨斯州众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特身穿紧身牛仔裤和露脐系带上衣，站在 AT&T 体育场的舞台上，对周围的人群说：“现在，我们正在体验最高水平的黑人喜悦！”

在场馆内，这番话虽然显而易见，却也毫无争议。克罗克特体育场正在举办亚瑟小子和克里斯·布朗的R&B巡回演唱会第二晚的演出，这场演唱会以两位歌手的姓氏——雷蒙德和布朗——以及他们的音乐风格命名，人气爆棚，活力四射。在这场热闹非凡的互动表演中，两位巨星将他们精湛的歌喉与类似电影《魔力麦克》的劲爆舞蹈完美融合，甚至邀请观众席上的女性加入他们的扭动和热舞。为了宣传这场巡演，布朗在Instagram上发布了一张他扭动臀部、手抓着下体的特写照片，一天之内就获得了超过16万个赞。

“我想确保我们把这件事记录在国会记录里，”克罗克特继续说道，布朗和德克萨斯州众议员文顿·琼斯也加入了他的行列。“我们今天在这里都是因为克里斯·布朗！”

德克萨斯州民主党众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特因与克里斯·布朗同台演出并承诺将他的名字载入国会记录而受到抨击。

在会场外，人们——尤其是黑人女性——对此并不买账。民主党策略师阿梅西亚·克罗斯在社交媒体上发文称这一声明“荒谬至极”，并表示：“利用国会议员的影响力来支持一个众所周知的虐待女性者，令人作呕。”作家罗克珊·盖伊则称之为“离奇且不可接受的错误之举”。

琼斯就自己的行为道歉，他写道：“我想向那些被我的行为伤害的女性，特别是黑人女性道歉。”克罗克特没有回应置评请求，也没有公开谈论此事。布朗和厄舍也没有回应置评请求。

编者按：本文引用了一些可能冒犯读者的语言。

克罗克特穿着闪亮的银色踝靴，踏入了一场痛苦的文化分裂：一部分人将布朗视为深受爱戴的歌手、舞者和“R&B之王”，而另一部分人则认为他是臭名昭著的虐待者。

对于后一组人来说，定义布朗的形象是 2009 年他当时的女友蕾哈娜的照片，照片中蕾哈娜的脸肿胀流血，因为在格莱美颁奖典礼前的派对之后，布朗在车里打了她。

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蕾哈娜后来表示她原谅了布朗，布朗的粉丝们会注意到，他在那起袭击案中自首并认罪，尽管他最初拒不不认罪，但在获得认罪协议后，他接受了五年缓刑、1400 小时的“劳动服务”和咨询计划。

但多年来，抱怨和指责不断累积。

2013 年，一名女子指控布朗在一家夜总会袭击了她，但布朗的代表在 2024 年告诉 CNN，该指控“完全是虚假和毫无根据的”，最终也没有提起诉讼。

2016年，前选美冠军贝莉·柯伦声称布朗曾用枪指着她，但布朗坚称自己无罪，而且这一说法也从未得到证实。最终，布朗并未被起诉，反而开始出售印有“这个婊子在撒谎”字样的T恤。

2017年，法官批准了布朗前女友卡鲁切·特兰（Karrueche Tran）提出的为期五年的限制令申请，特兰指控布朗曾对她发出暴力威胁。布朗当时未对此限制令发表评论。

2022年，另一名女子起诉布朗，指控他于2020年在肖恩·“迪迪”·科姆斯的游艇上对她下药并强奸。布朗的律师称这些指控“完全是捏造的”，同年，法官以原告未出庭为由驳回了该诉讼。

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布朗还曾被指控参与其他暴力事件。最近一次是在7月，布朗承认在2023年伦敦一家夜总会发生的斗殴事件中犯有扰乱公共秩序罪。检方称，布朗当时用玻璃瓶两次击打一名男子的头部。2024年，一群演唱会观众对布朗提起诉讼，指控他和他的团队在演出结束后于后台向一名观众扔椅子，并持续十多分钟对另一名观众的头部和胸部进行踩踏和拳击。当时，布朗的律师在一份声明中坚称，布朗从未主动挑起肢体冲突。

自从与蕾哈娜的事件发生以来，布朗几乎在所有情况下都为自己辩护，声称自己是无辜的，而他的粉丝（仅在 Instagram 上就有 1.39 亿粉丝，被亲切地称为“布朗团队”）也选择支持他。

他发行了一张又一张白金唱片，凭借个人作品和与众多明星艺人的合作，不断攀升排行榜。在与蕾哈娜的冲突事件发生仅仅两年后，仍在缓刑期内的布朗发行了专辑《FAME》，这张专辑成为他首张登上公告牌二百强专辑榜榜首的专辑，并为他赢得了首座格莱美奖——最佳R&B专辑奖。在公告牌主流R&B/嘻哈电台榜上，他与利尔·韦恩并列第二，拥有第二多的冠军单曲，仅次于德雷克。自2010年以来，他每年都获得BET奖提名。2023年，他荣获NAACP形象奖杰出男艺人奖。他最近一次巡演——2025年的“Breezy Bowl XX”——是当年票房最高的巡演之一。

针对他虐待伴侣的指控似乎并没有玷污他舞台形象和音乐所营造的梦幻氛围。在最近的一场演唱会上，一位歌迷举着一块牌子，上面写着：“既然你取消了我的见面会，克里斯·布朗，你能摸摸我的屁股吗？”

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研究过布朗粉丝群体的音乐记者兼研究员詹妮莎·威廉姆斯表示，千禧一代，尤其是布朗重点营销的黑人千禧一代，感觉自己是和布朗一起成长的。

2005年，年仅16岁的克里斯·布朗凭借首支单曲《Run It!》一炮而红，这首歌在短短几个月内便攀升至公告牌百强单曲榜榜首。尽管年纪尚小，他还是于2006年发行了纪录片DVD《克里斯·布朗的旅程》，并在同年开启了他的首次个人巡回演唱会。2005年至2007年间，布朗的身影遍布各大电视节目，从《灵魂列车》到《芝麻街》应有尽有。他不仅能歌善舞，还涉足影视表演：2007年，他出演了电影《舞出我人生》和《圣诞快乐》，完成了自己的电影处女作。

在他 18 岁之前，他曾获得两项格莱美奖提名：最佳新人奖（输给了凯莉·安德伍德）和最佳当代 R&B 专辑奖（输给了碧昂丝的《B'Day》）。

Destinee Lewis 从 6 岁起就是 Brown 的粉丝，她记得小时候在电视上看他的音乐视频，并模仿 Brown 的舞蹈动作。

“他曾经无处不在，”刘易斯说。

对铁杆粉丝来说，那个时代从未真正结束。“当有人犯错时，你会感到一种难以启齿的不安，因为你不得不与这个人划清界限，这也意味着你要否认自己对那段时光的记忆，”威廉姆斯说道。“很多时候，这都源于一种想法：你发现某人时，他/她仿佛被定格在了青少年时期，而你又想守护住那个特定的形象。我认为，就他而言，这一点尤为重要。”

布朗19岁时袭击了蕾哈娜，事后他多次道歉。但随后的指控却扑朔迷离，布朗始终坚称自己无罪。除了2022年案件被驳回外，在其他一些案例中，要么从未提起诉讼，要么出现了新的信息使原告的证词变得扑朔迷离，要么布朗提起反诉指控诽谤——这些细节都让每个案件变得更加复杂。

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因此，布朗把自己塑造成一个面对那些试图不公平地扳倒他的人始终保持反抗的形象。

“如果你们还因为我17岁时犯的错而恨我，那就请你们亲我的屁股吧！”他在2023年写道，比他殴打蕾哈娜时的实际年龄少了两个岁。此前，歌手克洛伊·贝利因与他合作而受到粉丝批评。“那些和未成年女性交往、殴打妻子、让女人染上艾滋病的白人艺人，为什么没人抵制他们？”

第二年，当他声称自己因为赞助商的利益而被“取消”参加 NBA 全明星名人赛的邀请时，他写道：“我厌倦了活在过去。”

威廉姆斯说：“他在公众面前一直毫无悔意，反而强化了一种说法，即他受到了不公平的对待，成了替罪羊，比其他艺人受到更严厉的对待。他给了他的粉丝们很多可以据此展开的讨论。”

如果没有历史根基，布朗案的保护就无从谈起。社会学家贝丝·里奇创造了“忠诚陷阱”一词，指的是黑人女性在面对反黑人制度时所感受到的保护黑人男性的责任感。研究表明，黑人，尤其是黑人男性，比白人更容易被冤枉定罪，而且在被证明无罪之前，他们往往要在监狱里待更长时间。

华盛顿大学女性、性别与性研究教授丽贝卡·万佐表示，虚假指控也被用作种族主义的工具——最著名的例子是 1955 年埃米特·蒂尔被私刑处死。

Wanzo表示，布朗公开表示自己认同这种背景，而且他的粉丝群体以女性为主，“这对他来说意义重大，让他感觉良好”。

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万佐说：“当有人给粉丝带来快乐时，他们很难相信坏事发生。他们很难放下自己喜爱的人或事物。”

万佐表示，这种宽恕或否认并非布朗独有。曾因1977年给一名13岁女孩下药并强奸而被捕，随后逃离美国的波兰裔法国电影导演罗曼·波兰斯基，也得到了众多一线电影人、演员和其他全球电影界人士的辩护。

布朗在业内也有不少拥护者。R&B传奇人物莫妮卡称他为“地球上最伟大的艺人”，并表示他的嗓音能让任何歌曲都更加动听。2022年，布朗在全美音乐奖颁奖典礼上遭到观众嘘声后，凯莉·罗兰代他领奖，并感谢他创作了如此优秀的R&B音乐。

即使没有公开表示支持，布朗近年来也不仅与克洛伊·贝利合作，还与德雷克、席亚拉、HER、杰克·哈洛、布莱森·蒂勒和其他业内大腕合作。

鉴于 Usher 乐意与 Brown 一起巡演，Crockett 的举动与其说是失误，不如说是随波逐流。

布朗对克罗克特及其本人所受到的强烈反对的回应，与他之前的声明如出一辙。

“我在达拉斯的演出票早就卖光了。我没要求什么荣誉，”他说。“你们能不能别来烦我，让我专心招待那些花钱来看我演出、支持我的歌迷。”