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<\/p>\n\n 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, \u201cRight now, we are experiencing Black joy to the highest level!\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Inside the building, it was an uncontroversial, if not obvious, thing to say. Crockett was marking the stadium\u2019s second night of Usher and Chris Brown\u2019s wildly popular, high-energy R&B Tour, named after the singers\u2019 genre and their last names, Raymond and Brown. In a raucously interactive performance, the two stars mix their vocal prowess with a \u201cMagic Mike\u201d\u2013esque 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.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd I wanted to make sure we document that in the Congressional Record,\u201d Crockett continued onstage, joined by Brown and Texas State Rep. Venton Jones. \u201cWe\u2019re here because of Chris Brown!\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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Jasmine Crockett under fire for honoring Chris Brown at his show\n <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Jasmine Crockett under fire for honoring Chris Brown at his show<\/p>\n
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\n Outside the arena, people \u2014 Black women in particular \u2014 were less enchanted. In social media posts, Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross called the declaration \u201ca ridiculous move,\u201d<\/a> saying, \u201cUsing the weight of a Congressional role to uplift a known abuser of women is disgusting.\u201d<\/a> Writer Roxane Gay called it a \u201cbizarre and unacceptable misstep.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Jones issued an apology for his participation, writing,<\/a> \u201cI want to acknowledge the women, the Black women, whom my actions have hurt.\u201d 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.\n <\/p>\n \n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 This article quotes language that may be offensive to readers.\n<\/p>\n \n 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 \u201cKing of R&B,\u201d and those who see him as a notorious abuser.\n <\/p>\n \n 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\u2013Grammy Awards party<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n 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<\/a> that included five years\u2019 probation, 1,400 hours of \u201clabor-oriented service\u201d and a counseling program.\n <\/p>\n \n But through the years, complaints and accusations kept accumulating.\n <\/p>\n 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 \u201ctotally false and unfounded\u201d and charges were ultimately not filed.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cThis B!tch Lyin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In 2022, another woman sued Brown for allegedly drugging and raping her in 2020 while on a yacht owned by Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs. An attorney for Brown has said the claims were \u201centirely fabricated,\u201d and the lawsuit was dismissed by a judge that same year, citing lack of prosecution.<\/p>\n \n 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<\/a>. In 2024, a group of concertgoers filed a lawsuit against Brown alleging he and his team threw a chair at a person\u2019s head and spent over 10 minutes stomping and punching another person\u2019s head and chest while backstage following a show<\/a>. In a statement at the time, Brown\u2019s attorney maintained that Brown never initiated physical contact.\n <\/p>\n \n 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.\n <\/p>\n \n 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 \u201cF.A.M.E.,\u201d which became his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200<\/a> and brought him his first Grammy win, for best R&B album. On Billboard\u2019s Mainstream R&B\/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, he\u2019s tied with Lil Wayne for the second most No. 1 songs, just behind Drake<\/a>. He\u2019s 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\u2019s Breezy Bowl XX, was one of the highest grossing tours of the year.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n The allegations of partner abuse likewise don\u2019t seem to sully the fantasy fueled by his onstage presence and his music. At a recent concert, a fan held a sign reading<\/a>: \u201cSince u canceled my meet and greet, can you pls grab my a** Chris Brown?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n 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\u2019s fandom.\n <\/p>\n \n Brown was 16 years old when his 2005 debut single, \u201cRun It!,\u201d 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<\/a>. Despite his age, he released a documentary DVD titled \u201cChris Brown\u2019s Journey\u201d in 2006 and later that year, he embarked on his first headlining tour. Between 2005 and 2007, Brown was on everything from \u201cSoul Train\u201d to \u201cSesame Street.\u201d He was dancing, singing, even acting: in 2007, he made his film debuts in \u201cStomp the Yard\u201d and \u201cThis Christmas.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n 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 Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s \u201cB\u2019Day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Destinee Lewis, a fan of Brown since she was 6 years old, remembers watching his music videos on TV and mimicking Brown\u2019s dance moves.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere was a time where he was everywhere,\u201d Lewis said.\n <\/p>\n \n To devoted fans, that era never really ended. \u201cWhen there is a transgression, there\u2019s that sort of discomfort of disavowing the person, because it also means disavowing your own memories of that time,\u201d Williams said. \u201cSo 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.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n 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\u2019s story, or Brown has counter-sued for defamation \u2014 details which complicate each story.\n <\/p>\n \n 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.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf yall still hate me for a mistake I made as a 17year old please kiss my whole entire ass !\u201d he wrote in 2023<\/a>, shaving two years off the actual age he was when he hit Rihanna, after fans criticized singer Chloe Bailey for collaborating with him. \u201cWhere are the cancel culture with these white artist that date underage women, beat the fuck out their wives, giving bitches AIDS.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The next year, when he claimed he had been \u201cuninvited\u201d from the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game because of sponsor interests, he wrote<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m tired of living in the fucking past.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHe\u2019s 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,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHe\u2019s given his fans quite a lot of narrative to run with.\u201d\n <\/p>\n History and forgiveness<\/p>\n \n Brown\u2019s protection doesn\u2019t exist without historical scaffolding. Sociologist Beth Richie coined the term \u201ctrap of loyalty,\u201d referring to the responsibility Black women feel to protect Black men in the face of anti-Black systems. Studies have shown<\/a> 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.\n <\/p>\n \n False accusations have also been used as tools of racism, said Rebecca Wanzo, professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Washington University \u2014 most notably the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Brown publicly aligns himself with this context, and his largely female fanbase \u201cgoes a long way in making him OK,\u201d Wanzo said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen someone gives a fan pleasure, they have a hard time believing bad things,\u201d Wanzo said. \u201cThey have a hard time letting go of their love objects.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n 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<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Brown has his industry defenders, too. R&B legend Monica called him \u201cthe greatest entertainer\u201d on Earth and said his voice makes any song better<\/a>. 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<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n 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.\n <\/p>\n \n Given that Usher was happy to tour with Brown, Crockett\u2019s presentation could be read as less of a misstep and more as someone simply following the crowd.\n <\/p>\n \n Brown\u2019s response to the backlash against Crockett, and by extension him, echoed his previous statements.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMy shows in Dallas were already sold out. I ain\u2019t ask to be honored,\u201d he said. \u201cHow about yall leave me the fuck alone and let me focus on the fans that spent their money to actually see and support me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n ![\"Rihanna](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/03-gettyimages-81327591.JPG\")
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