Kelly Rowland came to Chris Brown‘s defense on Sunday while presenting him with Favorite Male R&B Artist at the 2022 American Music Awards.
Rowland’s announcement of Brown’s win elicited boos from several audience members at the Microsoft Theater, but the former Destiny’s Child singer was quick to shut them down.
“Chris Brown is not here tonight, so I’m accepting this award on his behalf,” Rowland began. Upon hearing the negative reactions, she replied, “Excuse me, chill out,” pointing a finger in the general area of the boos.
“I want to tell Chris, ‘Thank you so much for making great R&B music,'” Rowland said. “And I want to tell him, ‘Thank you for being an incredible performer.’ I’ll take this award and bring it you. I love you. Congratulations, and congratulations to every nominee in this category.”
Nominated against Brown in this category were Brent Faiyaz, Givēon, Lucky Daye and The Weeknd. Watch the contentious moment above.
Brown had planned a Michael Jackson tribute for this year’s AMAs, according to a post on Instagram, but he says the show decided to cancel it “for reasons unknown.” Click here to watch the routine.
Brown has been an extremely controversial public figure ever since he was charged with assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009. The incident occurred while the couple was on their way to the Grammys. Brown pled guilty to felony assault.
Your thoughts on this uncomfortable AMAs moment? Drop ’em in a comment below.
You may also like
Good for the audience, and shame on her!
the AMA’s are fan voted so the booing doesn’t make much sense.
Sure it does since the people in the room do not equal the only
People who voted.
The members of the audience were not the same people who voted. Otherwise, Brown might still have won.
Why shame on her??? it’s an American Music Award. Not a court TV. His talent is undeniable and the award is about music.
I don’t condone what happened to Rihanna but his work has nothing to do with what happened when he was with Rihanna.
I deny his talent. And, God, beating up Rihanna is one of the long list of crimes involving violence and abuse he committed against several people, always scotch free.
why? only in hollyweird would some with a felony assault would be rehired.
You do understand Rihanna was not the only one???? That’s why shame on her.
Agree with Ivette 100%.
The man has the voice of an Angel, and the talent of MJ when he moves.
We have ALL done things in our past, it is about forgiveness. RiRi forgave him, I think you all can too.
We’re they booing the fact he wasn’t there?
No they were booing because he’s a terrible person
He’s not a terrible person. He’s a young talented man who has made a big mistake. Rihhana has forgiven him. Chill
He has assaulted far more people than just Rihanna. Wild how comfortable some y’all feel defending serial violent criminals.
Question do you know him on a personal lever to say that he is a terrible person?
If not you have no right to say that as if you know him personally and is a fact that you have seen it with your own eyes and experience it.
He beat up a woman.
LOL.
Always a weird flex to defend a known woman beater.
And yes, it is that simple for that to define what a horrible person is.
Only one reason you’re defending him.
I love Chris Brown & Kelly Rowland!
[COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SYSTEM-DETECTED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES]
Sorry , he deserved a boo . Assault is a CRIME easily prevented . He is a bully .
And so it a lot of stuff a lot of artist still get there glory in America so why shouldn’t he
That’s sad though, cuz she’s gone on with her life and here you are holding him “out to dry” for something that he’s been held accountable for with the judicial system to this day! Come on now even God Almighty forgives us of even our worst sins and infractions! Get a grip!!!
[COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SYSTEM-DETECTED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES]
The whole shade that you included at the end regarding him and Rihanna, added absolutely nothing to this story whatsoever. Extremely uncalled for!
Shade? Seriously? You consider a crime against another person as “shade.” It’s not uncalled for. It tells people who were unfamiliar with the situation why people might have been booing him. It actually adds a lot of context to the story.
[COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SYSTEM-DETECTED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES]
That’s sad though, cuz she’s gone on with her life and here you are holding him “out to dry” for something that he’s been held accountable for with the judicial system to this day! Come on now even God Almighty forgives us of even our worst sins and infractions! Get a grip!!!
[COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SYSTEM-DETECTED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES]
Man…… how long ago was that and this man has repeatedly apologized to the the victim and the world!!! Only god can judge him and you like Rowland said we need to just chill out
The man has also repeatedly beat a gay man, another girlfriend, threatened the life of a police officers, trashed Tv News studios, has several restraining orders against him. At no point he showed any change.
It is not called Court TV. It’s an American Music Awards. Is about music, not court charges & crime sentences. Chris already paid for what happened to Rihanna and she (the victim) has forgiven him and had moved on w her life.
Chris accomplishments in the Music industry is undeniable and he deserves the award because after all is about MUSIC!!!
Agree with the “Boos”! Weekend should have won!
Why are we still bringing up the incident with Rihanna like i don’t get it a lot of other artist singers actors have done far worst and it’s never mentioned but i know the reason why it’s not carry on America
There ya go Baby, you hit the nail on the head right there! That my friend is the determining factor in ALL of this, and why he is hung out to dry while his white counterparts are treated with the most gentle kid gloves. Let’s just call it exactly what it is!
I totally agree with you. Too many white artist get away with lots of crap. And this was years ago. So if Rhianna ain’t bothered by it, why should anyone else. Both have moved on with their lives…
“Why should anyone else” what? be bothered by actual confirmed abuse? Why are you so quick to forgive someone you don’t know and never will meet, and you know did something awful. Weird take
[COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SYSTEM-DETECTED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES]
So you’re only defending him because he’s black?
Rihanna isn’t his only victim. He abused and harassed actress Karrueche Tran. She has a restraining order on him that she is looking to extend because she still fears for her life years later. Not to mention a laundry list of other alleged accusations. By your logic if other people get away with murder then no one should ever be punished for murder right? But hey taking a look at who his victims are I know the reason why people are fine with letting it his crimes slide. Carry on America
This is gonna go over their heads. Just like Johnny Depp isn’t abusive and is totally innocent of everything ever 😂
[COMMENT REMOVED DUE TO SYSTEM-DETECTED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES]
Where’s the evidence? R0 can happen for many reasons. Not just physical abuse. There is no actual evidence that he hit her. But no yall just want to believe anything. Iman did Tran not say herself in an interview with iyanla that he never abused her? Yet you all want to not believe her when she says that
Women are each others own worst enemy!
Kelly is a fan of a convicted woman beater!
Talk about tone deaf from her!
I’m sorry zac that your parents did not teach you about forgiveness, learning from past mistakes, growth& moving on. You must live a miserable life full of bitterness & holding grudges. Rihanna has moved on…if you can’t then that’s a you problem.
Im sorry Loii, that your parents did not teach you about how men should never ever raise a hand to woman. It is NOT like chris has done nothing wrong since!
Again women are yer own worst enemy!
Unfortunately you’re both tone deaf. Lori obviously too forgiving, he hasn’t earned it. And zac, one woman’s reaction to something doesn’t make a point about women as a whole, obviously.
Kelly Rowland is herself a victim of domestic violence and abuse. I highly doubt she is tone deaf on the issue. It’s been over 10 years and the victim has asked people to move on. You are being tone deaf for not respecting the victims wishes.
Rihanna is not his only victim. You’re being tone deaf by ignoring the fact that he has hurt other people.
Celebrate the music. This award he deserves for his music.I applaud you Chris When will we learn to move on. I don’t dismiss the mistake he’s made in his past. But it is the past.Its clear Rhianna has moved on and appears to be very happy. Let celebrate the music.
Kelly did not do herself any favors!!
I mean at some point we have to let this guy live. Yes he’s an abuser, yes what he did was soooo wrong, but this is feeling alot like the social media lynching of a black man everytime people scream about him winning something. Especially since a lot of you are not keeping the same energy against other white abusers aka fassbender , sean penn etcetera. It’s getting tiring
TONE DEAF COMMENT!
why bring race into this?
DO NOT, try and give him a free pass because of his skin colour. Are u a fan of defund the police bs?
Race exists in every context, you are just the weirdo that doesn’t want to talk about it
Nothing I said was wrong. Chris Brown still facing backlash has to do with him being black.
according to you! he is a woman beater and u try and bring race into the convo, he is a horrible man, doesnt matter if he grey or green etc, but people like you try to bring race into every bloody thing!
You sound freak mentally challenged Zac. Race exists, accept it
and u want to bring race into everything, even trying to defend a woman beater!
Zac is one of the only sensible people on this board. People want to bring race into it? Fine. If it was a white man who beat on Rihanna there’d be hell all over these comments. Don’t make excuses because he’s black. If it was your daughter it sure wouldn’t be. People on here should get their heads out of their a$$es.
Some people love trying to cancel people from tweets when they were a dumb teenager , but then they try and defend a convicted woman beater. The irony is so much, South Park should hire them for satire!
Michael fassbender beat on his girlfriend.
Crickets
Sean penn abused Madonna
Crickets
Nicholas cage. Josh Brolin. Alec Baldwin. All accused of abuse
CRICKETS.
No social media backlash. NOTHING.
Chris Brown arrested for abuse in 2009. We are still hearing about it in 2022.
Get the hell out of this comment board with your delusion. This is all about race. You people are literally just white weirdos who want to pretend that it is not. You probably voted for Trump. YEAH I brought in politics what are you going to do about it?? Lmao
Your racism is showing zac…its always the bigots like you who have the most to say about nothing
Plus it’s not like he was the only conterversial artist who won an award tonight as top country male artist and song the awards went to Morgan whallen
The whole shade that you included at the end regarding him and Rihanna, added absolutely nothing to this story whatsoever. Extremely uncalled for!
its called context!
What are you talking about? It’s the reason he was being booed. How can you possibly claim including that information was uncalled for and added nothing?
I don’t know any of these people, but I know the psychological aspects of people in general. I also know some of the absurd aspects of jurisprudence.
… seems to me that these people are being judged by those without firsthand knowledge. Even ‘pleading out’ does not necessarily reflect the ‘truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’.
Many would challenge me on this, until reminded of the frequent and horrible circumstance where poor defendants often plead guilty for a short sentence rather than fight for justice where a lose could mean the death penalty or life w/o parole or something in between.
So are these music awards supposed to be awarded based on a person’s character or even behavior?
My favorite book re. morality has the main character saying, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
I may not have met your preference of ‘talking smart about TV’ but I would suggest that persons have bathed themselves in so much hypocrisy as to make their opinions somewhat ‘null and void’.
PS many of us believe that character in that book of morality, etc. is God, the Son of God that sacrificed his mortal flesh for the sake of ‘all that might have abused someone else, ‘ or even those who unfairly judged or applied judgement upon someone else.
PPS I am not suggesting that ill-behavior toward one’s fellow man or woman should simply be disregarded. I am a strong proponent of the death penalty. Justice just should apply equally here, even to this booing audience.
Here’s hoping we all receive forgiveness and find eternal life and happiness.
I don’t know any of these people, but I know the psychological aspects of people in general. I also know some of the absurd aspects of jurisprudence.
… seems to me that these people are being judged by those without firsthand knowledge. Even ‘pleading out’ does not necessarily reflect the ‘truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’.
Many would challenge me on this, until reminded of the frequent and horrible circumstance where poor defendants often plead guilty for a short sentence rather than fight for justice where a loss could mean the death penalty or life w/o parole or something in between.
So are these music awards supposed to be awarded based on a person’s character or even behavior?
My favorite book re. morality has the main character saying, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
I may not have met your preference of ‘talking smart about TV’ but I would suggest that persons have bathed themselves in so much hypocrisy as to make their opinions somewhat ‘null and void’.
PS many of us believe that character in that book of morality, etc. is God, the Son of God that sacrificed his mortal flesh for the sake of ‘all that might have abused someone else, ‘ or even those who unfairly judged or applied judgement upon someone else.
PPS I am not suggesting that ill-behavior toward one’s fellow man or woman should simply be disregarded. I am a strong proponent of the death penalty. Justice just should apply equally here, even to this booing audience.
Here’s hoping we all receive forgiveness and find eternal life and happiness.
Chris brown is a terrible person so Kelly can chill out. He deserves all the boos he gets.
That’s what’s wrong. One minute everyone hates a guy for beating on his girlfriend, the next minute the next minute he’s winning awards and when he gets booed it’s rude. He’s lucky he isn’t white or he wouldn’t have been invited. Keep booing, he’s a dirtbag.
If Chris Brown was white he would’ve been invited without his past being brought up. Nice try with the reverse phycology. You and others who haven’t moved on and still hate are the real dirtbags
Some of y’all is right C. Brown has proven hisself and some people need to stop hating because he is so talented and the haters can’t stand it. There have been plenty of athletes and other celebrities with domestic violence issues and I don’t see y’all keep throwing stones at them . Rihanna has been forgiven him you guys still holding on some things that don’t concern y’all. Put god in your live
Shut up, Kelly. Everyone loves Beyonce more
Speak for yourself…and keep everybody out of your opinions…Kelly is still “my” Favorite.
Good for Kelly standing up for Chris and you guys need to get over it.RiRi and Chris are in a good place. They are not the only celebrity couples that went through domestic violence .Y’all need to get a life. Because they did
It’s the AMA’S NOT APS!
he made a mistake paid the price for it let it go
They better leave Chris alone. Rihhana has forgiven him,his real fans have forgiven him, He’s a great artist, has grown a lot as a person and young man. So yeah, CHILL
He has been forgiven by the party involved and has grown quite a bit as a person. He’s a talented performer and yes has made a great contribution to r&b. So yeah I agree CHILL
You’re only defending him because he’s black. If he was white U would be screaming about him being a bad guy. Maybe people would’ve moved on if he hadn’t of had issues since then. He’s a bad guy no matter what color he is.
No I’m defending him, because like I said, he’s a talented artist who has made some mistakes. In the past couple of years he has grown up, and changed. That’s my take on that, and his skin color has nothing to do with that. Obviously it bothers you since you brought it up. I also defended Johnny Depp. Last time that I checked her was white.
Thank you Kelly Rowland for recognizing that Chris Brown is a great performer as well as an artist he won Kelly thank you for being you your wonderful young lady the fans that booed Chris need to get over it Rihanna has forgiven him
Regardless of what happened between Chris and RiRi, he is a great performer and the award was based on that and that alone. People need to stop passing judgement on others because GOD is the only one he will have to answer to on judgment day. No one care for your negative opinions.
It’s so unreal how people love to bring up Chris’s past mistakes, but no one ever talks about Mark Walberg’s racist abuse and attacks. Both made mistakes when teens and yet here we are. Still crucifying’s Brown. Many people have done wrong in the past and yet get to move on. When will Chris.