How is Chris Brown still this popular?

By Leah Asmelash, CNN

(CNN) — 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!”

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.

One superstar, two reactions

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.

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.

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?”

A lifelong connection with fans

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.

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.”

History and forgiveness

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.

“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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