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R&B star Chris Brown has filed a $500 million defamation lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery and Ample Entertainment, claiming the documentary Chris Brown: A History of Violence, which came out in October 2024, damaged his reputation with false and damaging claims.
The film, whichh delves deep into the singer’s history of controversies, includes allegations from an anonymous dancer-identified as Jane Doe-who accused Brown of drugging and raping her during a 2020 yacht party at a property owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs. The claim, which was first taken to court in 2022, was dismissed without prejudice due to a lack of evidence.
Brown’s lawyers suggest that the documentary has portrayed him as some kind of “serial rapist and sexual abuser.” In the complaint, they singled out three critical points: allegations of rape, tampering with evidence, and having a “predisposition for punching women in the face.” They further accused Warner Bros. and Ample Entertainment of prioritizing profit over factually accurate reporting by not reviewing evidence provided by Brown’s team to rebut the allegations.
The complaint filed by Brown’s lawyers reads, “The producers promoted and published false information in their pursuit of likes, clicks, downloads, and dollars.” They further claimed that the documentary has caused the artist emotional distress and irreparable harm to his reputation, career, and business opportunities.
Warner Bros. Discovery has defended the documentary, stating, “We stand behind the production and will vigorously defend ourselves against this lawsuit.”
The documentary revisits other legal troubles in Brown’s career, too, including the 2009 assault on his then-girlfriend Rihanna to which he publicly apologized and pleaded guilty, along with other accusations of assault and sexual misconduct over the years. Lawyers for Brown maintain that he “has never been found at fault for any type of sexual crime.”
Yet, he is an unstoppable force in the industry at 35, with about 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 144 million on Instagram. His latest album, 11:11, released in November 2023, has received critical commercial success.
A portion of any damage payment from the lawsuit will go toward organizations in support of sexual assault survivors, according to Brown.
This case illustrates the eternal tango between artistic freedom in the media and the rights to reputation for public figures. It also casts questions of accountability in the digital era.
