Chris Brown sues Warner Bros. for documentary

Chris Brown is taking legal action against Warner Bros.

The “Forever” singer, 35, filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the studio of defaming him and causing emotional distress via the Investigation Discovery documentary Chris Brown: A History of Violence, which premiered in October. Several of the film’s producers are also listed as defendants.

Brown seeks $500 million in damages, “a portion of which will be donated to survivors of sexual abuse,” according to the singer’s complaint, which has been reviewed by Entertainment Weekly.

Representatives for Brown, Warner Bros., and the defendants did not immediately respond to EW’s requests for comment.

Brown’s complaint primarily contests three statements from the documentary that his lawyers claim are defamatory: one Jane Doe accuser alleging “Chris Brown raped me,” the claim that Brown has a “predisposition for punching women in the face,” and the suggestion that the singer “manipulated or deleted text messages when he gave them to the Miami Police Department” during their investigation of the aforementioned Jane Doe’s accusations.

The complaint alleges that Brown “suffered harm to his reputation and profession as an entertainer, had to pay attorneys’ fees and costs, [and] suffered emotional distress” as a result of these claims, and that “Defendants acted for the purpose of causing [Brown] to suffer severe emotional distress and are guilty of malice, oppression and fraud.”

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Brown’s lawyers claim in the document, “Mr. Brown has never been found guilty of any sex related crime (rape, sexual battery, sexual assault, etc.) but this documentary states in every available fashion that he is a serial rapist and sexual abuser.” 

The complaint does allude to Brown’s “past mistakes,” but claims that he “has grown from those experiences.” The singer’s attorneys slam the documentary on the basis that it “ignores that growth, choosing instead to repackage stale accusations while amplifying them with demonstrable falsehoods.”

Brown’s attorneys alleged in the complaint that the aforementioned Jane Doe documentary participant had filed her own rape lawsuit against Brown in 2022, and that the case was ultimately dismissed later that year.

Brown also accuses Warner Bros. and production company Ample of violating California Civil Code §3344 by using the singer’s “name, voice, and likeness for commercial purposes, including promoting, advertising, and distributing the Documentary to generate revenue and increase viewership” without his consent. “There is a direct connection between Defendants’ use of [Brown’s] name, voice, and likeness and their commercial purposes, as the Documentary prominently features [Brown], and its success relies on leveraging his celebrity status and controversial history to attract viewers,” the complaint says.

It’s true that Brown has never been convicted of sexual assault, though that’s not to say that his legal record is spotless. In 2009, the singer pled guilty to felony assault by means likely to cause great bodily injury after infamously attacking his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

While on probation for the Rihanna incident, Brown was arrested in Washington, D.C. for his involvement in a hotel altercation. The singer pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and was sentenced to time served. He then voluntarily entered a rehab facility, only to allegedly be kicked out two weeks later when he smashed the window of his mother’s car with a rock during a family therapy session, according to his probation officer. 

Brown was later involved in a nine-hour standoff with police in 2016, and was arrested on suspision of assault with a deadly weapon, but charges were ultimately never filed. The same year, Brown’s ex-manager sued him alleging a “vicious,” “unprovoked” physical attack. Brown later settled that suit out of court. In 2017, his on-and-off girlfriend Karrueche Tran was granted a five-year restraining order.

In 2018, an unidentified woman sued Brown alleging sexual battery and assault. The singer settled the case out of court, ending the proceedings in 2020. Also in 2018, Brown was arrested in Florida after a concert after police said he allegedly “sucker-punched” a photographer, though authorities later dropped the charges.