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The Grammy Award-nominated performer did not attend the hearing, but his lawyer requested that his supervised probation be ended based on his exemplary behavior over the last two years.

Despite the lawyer’s plea, Superior Court Judge George Lomeli decided that although Brown is complying with his terms of his sentence, he should still continue to report to his probation officer, who is based in his hometown of Virginia.

Reportedly, Brown’s probation officer has been giving him high marks across the board and has commended him for being forthright, dependable, and passing all of the required drug testing.  The 22-year-old songwriter and actor even made an impressive comeback, winning favor among his fans with a chart-topping album release, “F.A.M.E.,” last year.

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Rihanna and Chris Brown are both scheduled to perform on the 54th annual Grammy Awards this Sunday.

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This will be the first time the pop stars attend the prestigious award ceremony together since Brown violently assaulted Rihanna three years ago today. Over the past few months there have been rumors that the pop stars have been secretly seeing each other, which might lead some people to ask, what if Rihanna and Chris Brown got back together? Would it kill their careers?

After the February 8, 2009 incident, Brown was charged with two felonies and sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service.

During an exclusive interview in November 2009 for 20/20 with Diane Sawyer, Rihanna was candid about her turbulent romance with Brown. “He was definitely my first big love,” she told Sawyer. “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other.The thing that men don’t realize, when they hit a woman, it’s…the face, the broken arm, the black eye, it’s going to heal. That’s not…the problem. It’s the scar inside.”

Go to theGrio for more on this story!

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[Songza Playlist=what-it-feels-like-to-be-black-NewsOne]

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At least that is what his manager is saying.

Breezy’s manager Tina Davis said he won’t be doing any interviews this year and will be focusing on his recording and performing instead, NecoleBitchie.com reports.

“We’re not trying to be rude, selfish or disrespectful in any way,” Davis said. “If people are going to judge anything, judge him for his talent.”

After his relationship with ex-girlfriend Rihanna ended with a public assault trial in 2009, and a “Good Morning America” interview that resulted in a number of smashed windows, the R&B star had a tough time overcoming his reputation as a hothead with a short fuse.

Do you think this is a good move? Can he keep his mouth shut that long without hurting his career? And doesn’t he need to learn how to express himself? Isn’t that what being a superstar is all about?

Read the rest of the story here.

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—–

This month, NewsOne presents a special exploration of Black Americans’ influence on social media, #TWEETING WHILE BLACK.

—–

Twitter has amassed more than 300 million users since its public launch in 2006, and a Pew Research Center survey shows that African Americans are more likely to Tweet than any other demographic. There is some speculation that this is because the median age among African Americans is currently skewing seven years younger than that of Whites — which can then be linked to smartphone usage and interest in the celebrities and media outlets (like BET’s 106 & Park), that rank among the most followed — but no conclusive study has been conducted.

SEE ALSO: INFOGRAPHIC: A History Of Black Twitter

But there’s no doubt that Black Americans are among the most effective and powerful users of Twitter, and that their influence is far out of proportion to their share of population.

Here is NewsOne’s official list of the Top 10 Black Tweeters. Are you following them?

1. @BarackObama: 11,449,382 Followers)

The account is run by his #Obama2012 campaign staff with at least daily updates on Presidential happenings. Much less frequently, he’ll chime in (he signs these Tweets “-BO”): “This dinner is important because I’m only president thanks to the work of millions of Americans like the four I just met.” (He dined with a teacher, an entrepreneur, a postal worker, and an artist who all donated at least $3 to his campaign and won the “Dinner With Obama” contest.)

2. @rihanna: 10,428,259 Followers

Her Tweets range from a Happy Birthday @britneyspears to quoting Jay Z to self-promotional commentary on her own social gaffes like “Shooting another vid in Ireland today!No farm this time :( … Im shooting another #ARMANI campaign Spring/Summer!Try to sneek u a pic ;)”

3. @Oprah: 8,456,870 Followers

She’s surprisingly not new age-preachy on this Twitter account. Instead, the media mogul posts one word response to her followers (“hi”), smiley face icons, and the occasional update of what it’s like to be Oprah: “Just saw Hugh Jackman on Broadway. WOW was he awe inspiring. He BROUGHT IT. Sang it, danced it and THREW DOWN!”

4. @NICKIMINAJ: 7,560,448 Followers

Between her Pink Friday promotions and congratulations to @maryjblige for her new album, the platinum-selling artist spends most of her Tweets thanking her Barbz and acting in cyber-speak: “Thank u my loves. I couldn’t do this w/o you. I am overwhelmed. I’m in love w/u guys. How could one girl be this lucky? *holds u close*”

5. @chrisbrown: 6,011,182 Followers

He still has a considerable following after recently deleting most of his Tweets. Now, Young Brezzy’s account is sporadic, sparse words like: “ELEVATE MENTALITY” and “Live LIFE!”

6. @MariahCarey: 5,314,200 Followers

With her record-breaking 1993 release, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” still charting and recently being remixed by Justin Beiber, Mrs. Cannon is using her Twitter to count down the days ‘til 25th, and bubble about her new song with John Legend, “When Christmas Comes.” She also takes a moment to shout out her second cousin’s sweet sixteen, post a Twitpic of herself in the booth, and send a note to O.D.B.: “Happy birthday & RIP to the late great O.D.B! I miss you & love you. “Ol’ dirty bastard across the globe.” – Fantasy.. classic, forever. Xo”

7. @aliciakeys: 5,284,370 Followers

Besides the occasional personal Tweets to the likes of @traciellisross, she’s all business on her account promoting her Keep A Child Alive cause, the Broadway play “Sticky Fly” that she produced, and her job as a “light bearing mommy/artist/songwriter/musician…”: “‘You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watching and love like it is never going to hurt ~ Ann Wells’.”

8. @50Cent: 5,301,573 Followers

He goes in multiple times per day, and will sometimes drop insight like how amazing it was to see Goldie Hawn and @deepackchopra live, but in true 50 fashion is mostly about the marketing strategy: “Streetking is the movement I’m not reading or retweeting if I don’t see SK in your tweets I need your help hold me down” (referencing his energy drink partnership with the United Nation to feed the hungry).

9. @kanyewest: 5,251,094 Followers

Only a select group of Tweeters have millions of followers without following anyone at all (the Dalai Lama, Rev Run, and Lord Valdermort), and, of course, Kanye tops that list. But it’s not the arrogant, Ye-centricity that one may expect. He expresses gratitude with a thank you to HipHopDX.com for a “tasteful well written review,” Chicagoan camaraderie with a re-Tweet of Bears stats mid-game, and just genuine goodwill: “Support Michael J. Fox foundation & NIKE and the fight against Parkinson’s”

10. @SnoopDogg: 5,222,697 Followers

He’s got a narrowed-eye focus on #macanddevin via many daily Tweets. The only thing that’ll make him take a breather from his new joint album with Wiz Khalifa is news of his Snoop Youth Football League Superbowl game and his family: “Sunday n vegas syfl superbowl go hard or go home! Happy 2 b home. Cocori! N tae tae !! Love yall!!”

SEE THE ENTIRE #TWEETINGWHILEBLACK SERIES HERE

METHODOLOGY:

List derived from Twitaholic.com, data updated via Twitter.com

Now whatever you think of his music, Chris Brown beat his girlfriend to a pulp, he uses the N-Word, the C-Word, the S-Word, the F-Word, the most degrading misogynistic lyrics in some of his top songs like “Look At Me Now,” he trashed the ABC studio, yet he’s treated like royalty, the Pope, whatever the best analogy is on the Today show.

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Law enforcement sources tell us … Taylor was hanging out at a recording studio in Burbank Saturday night when another woman made a comment regarding Teyana’s friend Chris Brown.

We’re told Teyana allegedly flipped out — and punched the other woman in the face multiple times … sending the woman crashing to the floor … where Teyana proceeded to kick her in the stomach and head with her boots.

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Below is an open letter written by NewsOne contributor Kevin Powell to Chris Brown.

Dear Chris,

I really did not want to write this open letter, and would have preferred to speak to you in person, in private. Indeed, ever since the domestic violence incident with Rihanna two years ago there have been attempts, by some of the women currently or formerly in your circle, women who love and care deeply about you, to bring you and I together, as they felt my own life story, my own life experiences, might be of some help in your journey. For whatever reasons, that never happened. By pure coincidence, I wound up in a Harlem recording studio with you about three months ago, as I was meeting up with R&B singer Olivia and her manager. You were hosting a listening session for your album-in-progress and the room was filled with gushing supporters, with a very large security guard outside the studio door. I was allowed in, as I assume you knew my name, and my long relationship to the music industry. I greeted you and said I would love to have a talk with you, but I am not even sure you heard a single word I said above the loud music. I gave your security person my card when I left, asked him to ask you to phone me, but you never did, for whatever reasons. And that is fine.

But I have thought of you long and hard as I’ve watched you, from a distance, as you dealt with the charges of physical violence against your then-girlfriend Rihanna, as you were being pummeled by the media and abandoned by many fans, admirers, and endorsers, and ridiculed on the social networks. You were 19 when the altercation with Rihanna occurred, and you are only 21 now. Yes, you’ve achieved both international fame and success in a way most people your age, or any age, could never imagine. But you also are at a very serious crossroads because of the dishonor of your persona derived from your beating Rihanna. There is no way to get around this, Chris. You must deal with it, as a man, now and forever. For our past can both be a prison we are locked in permanently or it can be the key to our freedom if we glean the lessons from it, and deal with it directly. All the external pressures and forces will be there, Chris, but no one can free us but ourselves. And it must start in our minds and in our souls.

That is why I was very saddened to hear about your recent appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” to promote your new cd “F.A.M.E.” The interview was embarrassing, to say the least, you slouched through the entire episode, and you were so clearly defensive as Robin Roberts, the interviewer, threw you what I thought were very easy questions about the Rihanna saga. I get that you want to move past it. But that is not going to happen, Chris, until people see real humility, real redemption, and real changes in how you conduct yourself both publicly and privately. Whether the interview and what happened at ABC studios were a publicity stunt to push your album sales is not the point (as has been suggested in some online blogs). It has been spread across the internet, and throughout the world, that you ripped off your shirt following that interview, got in the face of one of the show’s producers in a threatening manner, and that somehow the window in your dressing room was smashed with a chair. And then there are the photos of you, shirtless, walking outside the ABC studios looking, well, pissed off, immediately after. Finally, you tweeted, somewhere in the midst of that morning, Chris, “I’m so over people bring this past s**t up!! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for [their] bullsh**t.”

Yes, that tweet was taken down very quickly, but not before it was spread near and far also, Chris. And it was a tweet written with raw honesty and, for sure, raw emotion. Very clear to me, as it is to so many of us watching your life unfold in public, that you are deeply wounded, that you are hurt by what you have experienced the past two years. That you’ve never actually healed from what you witnessed as a child, either, of your mother being beaten savagely by your stepfather, and how that must’ve made you feel, in your bones. You’ve said in interviews, long before the Rihanna incident happened, that it made you scared, timid, and that you wet the bed because of the wild, untamed emotions that swirled in your being. I am certain you felt powerless, just as powerless as I felt as a boy when my mother, who I love dearly and have forgiven these many years later, viciously beat me, physically and emotionally, in an effort to discipline me, to prepare me, a Black man-child, for what she, a rural South Carolina-born and bred working-class woman, perceived to be a crude and racist world.

But the fact is, Chris, we cannot afford to teach children, directly or indirectly, that violence and anger in any form are the solutions for our frustrations, disagreements, or pain, and not expect that violence and anger to penetrate the psyche of that child. To be with that child as he, you, me, and countless other American males in our nation, grow from boy to teenager to early adulthood. Ultimately it will come out in some channel, either inwardly on themselves in the manner of serious self-repression, self-loathing, and fear. Or outwardly in the shape of blind rage and violence, against themselves, against others, including women and girls.

You see, Chris, I know much about you because I was you in previous chapters of my life. I am presently in my 40s, a practitioner of yoga, and someone who has spent much of the past 20 years in therapy and counseling sessions. I shudder to think who I would be today had I not made a commitment to constant self-reflection and healing. Yes, like most human beings I do get angry at times, but it is in a very different kind of way, I think long and hard about my words and actions, and if I do make a mistake and offend someone in some way verbally or emotionally, I apologize as quickly as I can. And I am proud to say I have not been involved in a violent incident in many years, that I am about love, peace, and nonviolence now, and this is my path for the rest of my life. I am not willing to go backwards, nor am I going to permit anyone or any scenario to take me backwards, either.

But, Chris, it was not always like this for me. The hurt and pain I felt as a child led to arguments and fights in my grade and high schools: arguments with teachers and principals and physical fights with my classmates. This in spite of the fact I possessed, very early on, the same kind of talents you had coming up. Mine is writing and yours is music. And because we both had gifts that people recognized, the more problematic sides of our personas were often overlooked, or ignored completely. In reality, Chris, I attended four grade schools and three high schools partly because my single mother and I (I am an only child) were very poor, and forced to move a lot; and partly because of my behavioral issues at various schools. Many adults could not understand it because I was routinely a straight-A student breezing through everything from math and science to English.

Yet I was no different than countless American children terrorized by their environments, with no true outlets to understand, and heal, what we were experiencing. That is why, Chris, I eventually was kicked out of Rutgers University, why I got into arguments with my cast mates on the first season of MTV’s “The Real World,” and why I often had beef with my co-workers, as a twenty something hot shot writer at Quincy Jones’ Vibe magazine. And why I was eventually fired from Vibe, Chris, in spite of writing more cover stories than any other writer in the magazine’s history. There was always a darkness in my life, Chris, a heavy sadness, born of years of wounds piled one on top of the other. And I did not begin to grasp this until a fateful day in July 1991 when I pushed my girlfriend at the time into a bathroom door in the middle of an argument. As I have written in other spaces, Chris, when she ran from the apartment, barefoot, it was only then that I recognized the magnitude of what I had done. Just like you I had to deal with public embarrassment and court and a restraining order. But the big difference, Chris, is that a community of people, both women and men, saw potential in me, the boy struggling to be a man, in the early 1990s, and rather than shun me or push me aside or write me off completely, they instead opted to help me.

The first step was returning to therapy, as I had done briefly in 1988 after being suspended from Rutgers for threatening a female student. The next step was my struggling to take ownership for every aspect of my life, and not just that bathroom door incident. That meant, Chris, I had to go very far into my own soul, and return, time and again, to being that little boy who had been violated and abused, and meet him, on his terms. I assure you, Chris, it was extremely difficult to do that, and I put off many issues for months, even years, unwilling or unable to look myself in the mirror. Add to that the sudden celebrity of my life on MTV and at Vibe, and I found myself around many other people who were living escapist lives, who were not bothering to deal with their demons, either. That, Chris, is a recipe for disaster, for a life stuck in a state of arrested development. The worst thing we could ever do is only be in circles of people who are wallowing in their own miseries, too, yet covering it up with fame, money, material things, sex, drugs, alcohol, and an addiction to acting out because that is much easier than actually growing up.

As a matter of fact, as I watched your “Good Morning America” interview, and read the accounts of what happened after, I thought a good deal about the late Tupac Shakur, who I interviewed more than any other journalist when he was alive. Tupac was, Chris, without question, equally the most brilliant and the most frustrating interview subject I’d ever encountered. Brilliant because his abilities as an actor (imagine what he could have been had he lived) were towering, and his writing skills instantly connected him with the man-child in so many American males, especially those of us who grew up as he did, without a consistent and available father figure or mentor, and with some form of turmoil in our lives. But, Chris, I could see the writing on the wall from the very beginning, of Tupac’s downfall, because he willingly participated in it, encouraged it, openly advertised it every single time he rhymed about dying, or spoke about a short shelf life in one of his interviews. I do believe each and every one of us human beings is given a certain amount of time on this planet. I for one feel very blessed to be here as long as I have been, especially given my past destructive paths. But I also believe, Chris, that so many of us participate in what I call self-sabotage, or slow suicide. That is, because we do not have the emotional and spiritual tools to process the many angles of our lives, we instead resort to predictable behavior that may feel empowering or liberating on the surface, but is actually damaging to us, and doing even more harm to us.

For an instance when I looked at the photo of you, shirtless, with the shiny tattoos across your chest, I saw myself, I saw Tupac Shakur, I saw all us American Black boys who so badly want to be free, who so badly want to be understood, who feel life unfair for labeling us “angry,” “difficult,” “violent,” “abusive,” “criminals,” or “cocky” or “arrogant.” Yes, Chris Brown, in spite of Barack Obama being president of the United States, America still very much has a very serious problem with race and racism, which means it still has a very serious problem with Black males who act out or behave badly, who speak their minds, who assert themselves in some way or another. I know that is what you are reacting to, Chris. And you are not wrong in tweeting that Charlie Sheen is catching a break in a way that you are not. I am very clear that Charlie Sheen’s father is Latino and his mother is White. But Charlie Sheen operates in a space of White male privilege because of his White skin and his access to White power, and thus he is given a pass for his violent, abusive, mean-spirited, and drug-addicted outbursts in a way you or I never will, Chris. Charlie Sheen, as insane as it appears, is even celebrated in many circles because of how American male (read, White male) privilege can exist while ignoring the concerns of those he has harmed, including women. That is why, Chris, I rarely discuss in public the chapter of my life that is MTV’s “The Real World.” In spite of who I am as a whole human being, my numerous interests and skill sets, the one thing that was played up were the arguments I had with my White cast mates. So I was labeled, for years and years, Chris, as “the angry Black man,” something that troubled me as deeply as you were bothered on “Good Morning America” by the Rihanna questions. And how certain media folks, including Joy Behar on “The View,” must bother you calling you a “thug,” in spite of the obvious racial overtones of such a loaded word. If you are a thug, then what is Charlie Sheen, or Mel Gibson, or John Mayer, or Jude Law, or any other famous White male who has engaged in bad behavior the past few years? Why are they often forgiven, given a pass, allowed to clean themselves up and to redeem themselves in a way Black males simply cannot, Chris? It is because, to paraphrase Tupac, we were given this world, we did not make it. And it is because of power, Chris, plain and simple. Whoever has the power to put forth images and words, to put forth definitions, to determine what is right and what is wrong, can just as easily label you a star one day and a thug and a has-been the very next day. Or make you, a Black male, the poster child, for every single bad behavior that exists in America. Just ask Black males as diverse as Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, or Kanye West. No apologies being made by me for these men or their actions, but the chatter, always, in Black male circles is how we are treated when we do wrong as opposed to how our White brothers are treated when they do wrong. Call it racial or cultural paranoia if you’d like. We Black brothers call it a ridiculously oppressive double standard. And that is because America has historically had a very complicated and twisted relationship with Black men, ranging from slavery to the first heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson to Malcolm X and Dr. King both, and including men like Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson, Prince, and, yes, Barack Obama. Sometimes we feel incredible love and affection, and sometimes we feel as if we are unwanted, armed, and dangerous. It is a schizophrenic existence, to say the least, and it is akin to how the character Bigger Thomas, in Richard Wright’s classic but controversial novel “Native Son,” saw his life reduced to the metaphor of a cornered black rat. Thus so many of us spend our entire lives, as Black males, navigating this tricky terrain, so few of us with the proper emotional and spiritual tools to balance our coolness with a righteous defiance that, well, will not get us killed, literally and figuratively, by each other or the police, or by the American mass media culture.

I am telling you the truth, Chris Brown, man-to-man, Black man to Black man, because you need to hear it, straight up, no chaser. If you really believe that because you are famous and successful that the same rules apply to you, you are deceiving yourself. Like many, I love people, regardless of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, disability, religion, any of that, and I believe deeply in the humanity and equality of us all. But until we have a nation, and a world, where the media places the same energy and excitement in documenting a Black man who is engaging in, say, mentoring work, as it does in a Black man smashing a window at a television station, then we are sadly fooling ourselves, Chris, that things are fair and equal in this universe. They are not. And sometimes it will be big things, like what you just experienced, Chris, at “Good Morning America,” and sometimes it will be quieter moments, far off the radar, where we Black men have to think on the fly about who we are, what we represent, how others perceive us or may want to perceive us, how we say things to people, particularly our White sisters and brothers, for fear or worry of being misunderstood and being pegged as “problematic” or a “troublemaker,” and magically navigate best we can to assert our humanity, our dignity, our leadership, our visions and ideas and dreams, and, yes, our definitions of manhood rooted in our very unique cultural journeys. Complete insanity, this emotional and spiritual juggling act, no question, and our harsh reality in this world, my friend.

So what you have to understand, Chris, and what I had to grapple with for years, is there is no escaping your past, especially if we engage in angry or violent behavior. If we do not confront it, probe and understand it, heal and learn from it, and use what we’ve learned to teach others to go a different way, then it dogs us forever, Chris, and we unwittingly become the entertainment, nonstop, for others. And that simply does not have to be the case for you, Chris. You are too much of a genius to allow this to destroy you, but your self-destruction is exactly what many of us are witnessing. I have no idea who is around you at this point, or what kind of men, specifically, are advising you, but the worst possible thing you could do is act as if what happened with Rihanna was no big deal. It was and is a major deal because women and girls, in America, and on this earth, are beaten, stabbed, shot, murdered, raped, molested, every single day. Because of your fame you have become, unfortunately, a poster child for this destructive behavior in spite of your proclaiming just a few years before, in a magazine interview, you would never do to a woman what had happened to your mother. What I gathered, very quickly, Chris, after I pushed that girlfriend back in 1991, was that I could not hide from my demons or myself. That is why I wrote an essay in Essence magazine in September 1992 entitled “The Sexist in Me.” That is why I made it a point to listen to women and girls in my travels, in my community, even within my family, tell stories of how they had been violated or abused by one man or another. And that is why, Chris, nearly twenty years later, so much of my work as a leader, as an activist, as a public speaker, is dedicated to ending violence against women and girls. In other words, I took what was a very negative and hurtful experience, for that girlfriend, and for myself, and transformed it into a life of teaching other males how to deal with their hurts without hurting others, particularly women and girls.

Tupac Shakur, Chris, never got to turn the corner, as you well know, because he was gunned down at age 25. I do not know if he actually raped or sexually assaulted the woman in that hotel room as he was charged. But one thing he did admit to me, Chris, in that famous Rikers Island interview, was that he could have stopped his male friends from coming into his hotel room and sexually exploiting his female companion that night. And he did not. You, Chris Brown, cannot turn back the hands of time to February 2009. We have seen the photos of Rihanna’s battered and bruised face. Yes, you’ve apologized, yes, you’ve done your time in court and your hours of community service, and yes, and you have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. But it is really up to you, Chris, to decide in these tense moments, as you approach your 22nd birthday on May 5th, if you want to be a boy forever locked in the time capsule of your own battered and bruised life, or if you want to be the man so many of us are rooting for you to be, one who will take responsibility for all his actions, who will sit up in interviews and answer all questions, even the uncomfortable ones. And the kind of man who will admit, once and for all, publicly, privately, however you must do it, that you need help, that you need love, that you need to love yourself in a very different kind of way, that you no longer will hide behind an album release, music videos, dyed hair, tattoos, or even your twitter account, Chris Brown. That you will make a life-long commitment to counseling, to therapy, to healing, to alternative definitions of manhood rooted in nonviolence, love, and peace, that you will become a loud and consistent voice against all forms of violence against women and girls, wherever you go, as I do, for the rest of your life. All eyes are on you because you’ve brought the world to your doorstep, my friend. The question alas, Chris, is do you want to go forward or not? And if yes to going forward, then you must know it means going to the deepest and darkest parts of your past to heal what ails you, once and for all, for the good of yourself, and for the good of those who are watching you very closely and who may learn something from what you do. Or what you do not do. The choice is yours, Chris Brown. The choice is yours—

Godspeed,
Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell is an activist, public speaker, and award-winning author or editor of 10 books, including Open Letters to America (essays) and No Sleep Till Brooklyn (poetry). Kevin lives in Brooklyn, New York. Email him at kevin@kevinpowell.net or follow him on Twitter @kevin_powell

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NEW YORK — After Chris Brown stormed out of the ABC studios, losing his shirt and breaking a window in the process, he was seen playing a pick-up basketball game at “The Cage,” New York’s famed West 4^th street courts.

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Daily News reports:

The volatile R&B singer hit the typically crowded West 4th street courts just hours after throwing a tantrum at ABC‘s studios following his interview with Robin Roberts, who asked him about his infamous attack on former girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.

Brown has been no stranger to bad press, and it appears as if this most recent attention-grabbing stunt may have cost him a performance on an episode of “Dancing With The Stars” next week.

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The R&B star exploded in a rage behind the scenes. The eruption was not caught on camera.

He joined co-anchor Robin Roberts for the interview as part of promotion of his brand new album, F.A.M.E..

During the interview, Roberts asked Brown about the 2009 beating incident. She mentioned the restraining order which was recently relaxed to which Brown responded: “I mean, it’s not really a big deal to me now, as far as that situation, and I think today’s the album day, that’s what I’m focused on.”

After his outburst, Brown went on to tweet:

Read more at HuffPo

Read The Whole Story

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The pictures released a day after Brown’s restraining order was eased, show Rihanna with a swollen eye and a busted lip. Brown remains on probation until 2014 for the 2009 assault.

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MediaTakeOut.com is hearing reports of  a possible Chris Brown-Rihanna RECONCILIATION. In light of that, we’ve decided to release the images.

See more Rihanna pics in our gallery below:

Read more at MediaTakeOut.com

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The judge said she never would have considered relaxing the order without Rihanna’s consent and until Brown completed domestic violence counseling. Prosecutors did not object to the change.

Schnegg praised Brown, who was in the court Tuesday and left holding a one-page copy of the new order. She noted he continues to make progress on completing the physical labor requirements of his probation and said the R&B singer does not have to attend a June 22 progress report hearing.

The new order remains in effect until August 2014 when Brown’s probation is scheduled to end.

He and Rihanna, 23, can now see and speak to each other. But if Brown harasses, threatens, assaults, or tracks his ex-girlfriend’s movements, he could be found to be in violation of his probation.

Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, can record any threatening conversations with Brown and present them as evidence to authorities.

Her attorney, Donald Etra, said he thought the new order was adequate protection.

Brown, 21, was charged with felony assault for the February 2009 fight in which he repeatedly struck Rihanna in a rented car after they left a pre-Grammy Awards party. Both entertainers missed that year’s awards show, although both have had renewed success in their careers since the incident.

Both Brown and Rihanna were nominated for Grammys this year, and she performed during the glitzy awards ceremony. Brown did not attend the show, but performed on Saturday Night Live a day earlier.

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Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg has ordered Brown to stay 50 yards away from Rihanna, although the two can be 10 yards apart if they are attending a music industry event.

Rihanna’s attorney Donald Etra said his client supports removing the stay-away provisions in the order. He plans to attend the hearing and lay out Rihanna’s position.

Brown’s attorney Mark Geragos did not immediately respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.

Brown acknowledged beating his then-girlfriend in a rented car after leaving a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Since then, he has been required to perform physical labor in his home state of Virginia. He has completed domestic violence counseling and has received praise from Schnegg for complying with the terms of his sentence.

Brown and Rihanna were nominated for Grammys this year. Brown did not attend the ceremony earlier this month. Rihanna performed at the event.

RELATED:

As a result of completing the required counseling, Brown will no longer have to appear in court every three months for progress report hearings.

Brown is serving five years of probation after pleading guilty last year to assaulting pop star Rihanna in a rented sports car after a pre-Grammy Awards party.

City News Service reports the judge said she would consider lifting the protective order against Brown at a later date. The order requires Brown to stay at least 100 yards (meters) away from Rihanna.

Brown quickly tweeted in response, “@razb2k, n — you want attention! Grow up n — !!! D — in da booty a– lil boy,” and followed up with several tweets taunting Thornton over his accusations that he was molested by his ex-manager and one of his former group mates.

Read more at CNN.com

Joyce Hawkins says she was ‘misunderstood’ after tweeting ‘Michael Jackson died so that Chris Brown could live!!!’

Chris Brown’s Mom: “MJ Died So Chris Brown Could Live!”

Like son, like mother. Just as impertinent social media posts have often tripped up Chris Brown, his mother, Joyce Hawkins, set off a 140-character tempest this week with some provocative comments she made about her famous offspring’s musical hero.

Text continues after Pictures of the week gallery:

It all began on Tuesday, when Hawkins tweeted the phrase “Michael Jackson died so that Chris Brown could live!!!” The comment about the June 2009 death of Jackson has since been taken down, but not before it elicited a raft of harsh comments for Breezy’s mom.

It was especially puzzling given the singer’s avowed love for the late King of Pop, which was on display at the BET Awards earlier this year when Brown had a breakdown while performing during a tribute to Jackson.

After apparently being inundated with flames for her tweet, Hawkins released a statement to USA Today on Thursday in which she explained, “I’m so sorry that the tweet I sent yesterday was misunderstood. What I meant to say is that Chris has always been inspired by Michael Jackson’s music and his career.” She later tweeted, “I’m sorry I offended anyone. The statement meant Chris would carry on Michaels [sic] legacy.”

Read entire article article at MTV.com

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If you’ve followed entertainment news for the past year or so, you’re familiar with controversy that has befallen the young singer, following is brutal post-2009 Grammys beating of then girlfriend and pop-star Rihanna. And, if you’re like me, you’ve grown sick of seeing his name, especially when it has been attached to half-baked apologies and poorly executed media appearances and interviews. But the young performer has seemingly put most of that behind him.

After releasing his third album, Graffiti, in December of last year and starring in this past weekend’s number one box-office hit, Takers, Brown is more focused on presenting his audience with artistic output than updates on his personal life. On Monday, Brown took to Twitter and said:

“#1 single in the country and the #1 movie in the country. life has turned around for me.i couldnt be more happier. thanks to the fans”

Aside from the false claim of having a number one single when his latest song “Deuces” featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall is actually #2 on the Billboard Hip-Hop and R&B charts, his statement greatly concerns me. He’s asserting that because of his professional success his life has somehow “turned round.”

Nearly a year and a half after he sent Rihanna to the hospital with bruises covering her face, he has yet to express any genuine remorse or desire to heal the wounds that were born of and caused this situation. There was never any talk of therapy or anger management classes, things that would help Brown cope with the history of abuse visited upon his mother at the hands of his stepfather. Rather, Brown spent time making “apology” videos, appearing at parties, speaking with Larry King, and presumably working on his album. Instead of taking time to work on himself he worked on his career.

Read more at TheGrio

Click here to view photos:

RELATED:

Chris Brown Banned From England Due To Criminal Record

Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

From Vibe.com:

In honor of the summer action thriller Takers—starring Idris Elba, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Michael Ealy, Chris Brown and Zoe Saldana and hits theaters Aug. 20—we thought we’d look back at some of the coolest bank robbery films the big screen has to offer. See where your faves fared and get ready to fire up those Netflix and Blockbuster queues to add a few of these titles to your list if haven’t seen them yet. 

Click here to read more

Click here to see our gallery of infamous drug lords

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My Baby is Black: Movie Trailer

It’s around this time every year that I make my annual Smokey Fontaine joke, but being that this year Smokey donned a pencil-thin mustache and appeared onstage as El Debarge, I’ve decided to cut him some slack.

Nice try Smoke, but everybody knows that El Debarge died horribly in a do-rag factory explosion over 25 years ago.

If he hadn’t, it would be the perfect time for him, a la Maxwell, to make a BET Awards Show inspired comeback that would return him to the top of the charts and make grown folks music a premium again.

Wishful thinking, I know.

Latifah was a good host, wasn’t she? She poked fun at all of previous incarnations from both stage and screen and even had a little fun with the notion that she’s (hint, hint) a hint, hint—if you know what I mean.

I couldn’t understand a word from Drake or Eminem and wanted them both off the stage.

I’ve hated that song by Monica right up until the moment that she brought Denise Williams up onto the stage.

Now I love it.

Is Alicia Keys pregnant or do none of her dresses fit?

What exactly is “Dirty Money” and why must anybody watch it televised?

Trey Songz’s mom is a good-looking woman and Nicki Minaj is a bona fide superstar—haters!

How does DJ Khaled keep getting the cream of Hip Hop’s crop to perform on his weird, self-aggrandizing songs?

I wanted to feel for Chris Brown, but the last time I witnessed somebody crying through a performance of any kind it was Oliver McCall as he got beat senseless by Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight title.

Somebody needs to tell John Legend that a true humanitarian wouldn’t force us listen to hour-long acceptance speeches.

I’m glad that Prince is Black. I’ve always suspected that he was, but now I’m sure.

All in all, it’s great (to me at least) that a network—which admittedly has its flaws—consistently outshines the Oscars, Grammys, MTV and everybody else when it comes to putting on award shows.

Outstanding job, BET.

Anybody beg to differ?

LONDON (AP) — Britain says U.S. singer Chris Brown has been denied entry into the United Kingdom, postponing his tour.

Brown had been scheduled to perform in London, Manchester, Birmingham and the Scottish city of Glasgow but the British government’s Home Office said he had been refused a visa because of his past criminal record.

Last year Brown was sentenced to five years’ probation and six months of community service for the beating of his then-girlfriend, R&B singing sensation Rihanna.

The Home Office said Brown applied for his visa last week and should have been notified of its refusal Monday.

Promoter SJM concerts said Tuesday that Brown’s tour had been postponed “due to unforeseen circumstances.”

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Santa Claus is coming to town tonight, so NewsOne decided to help him out by making a list (and checking it twice) tell him who’s been naughty and nice this year. So which newsmakers deserve gifts, and which have a lump of coal to look forward to? Check out the list below to find out.

NAUGHTY

Chris Brown – He beat up Rihanna in February, and has since shown little remorse. Instead he’s been tweeting complaints about stores not carrying his album … because clearly Chris is the victim in all this.

Joe & Jermaine Jackson – Between Joe shilling DVDs on the BET Awards’ red carpet days after Michael’s death and Jermaine’s reality show preening and on-again, off-again “tribute concert,” these two were a case study in shamelessly reaping benefits from the death of a loved one.

Michael Steele – He just … keeps … talking.

Lil Mama – A picture is worth a thousand words:

Yeah.

Tiger Woods - Tiger was very naughty this year, at least 14 times over. Maybe a nice lump of coal will teach him to keep it in his pants.

NICE

Alicia Keys – Sure she may have sort of stolen someone’s husband, but she’s also been doing great work to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. So, we’ll let that whole Swizz Beatz thing slide.

Barack Obama – It was a bumpy first year, but he kept the country from sliding into a second Great Depression and has brought us closer than ever to real health care reform. Not bad.

Janet Jackson – Since her brother died this summer, Janet has not only gracefully dealt with the loss while in the public eye, but has stepped up to help care for Michael’s children. In short, she’s acted nothing like Joe or Jermaine.

Mo’Nique – Her Oscar-worthy performance in “Precious” was a welcome and much-needed reminder that fair-skinned waifs aren’t the only talented women in Hollywood.

T.I. – While he did serve time in prison this year, T.I. made strides toward redeeming himself before his sentence began by reaching out to troubled kids and trying to get them back on the right track.

It’s been a wild ride this year in news, full of amazing ups (like President Obama’s inauguration) and tragic downs (like Michael Jackson’s death). Through it all, NewsOne has been here keeping you up to date on what’s going on.

So what was the news that caught your attention this year? Check out our list below of the Top 10 Most Clicked Stories of 2009 to find out!

10. Man Charged With Throwing Baby Out Car Window

9. Malcolm X’s Grandson Breaks Silence

8. Top 5 FOX News Uncle Toms

7. LisaRaye Testifies About Prime Minister Ex-Husband

6. Joe Jackson Confirms MJ’s Love Child

5. California Mayor Emails White House Watermelon Picture

4. 29-Year-Old Has 21 Kids With 11 Women

3. Seattle Police Beat 15-Year-Old Girl

2. Chris Brown Assaults Rihanna

And the number one most clicked story of the year was ……..

1. Top 10 Racist Rush Limbaugh Quotes - Thanks for the memories, Rush!

Check out more of NewsOne’s Best & Worst of 2009 and the Decade HERE.

From CNN:

Days after Chris Brown took to his Twitter page accusing stores of “blackballing” his new album, “Graffiti,” the singer’s account was deleted after he left a final message to his fans.

RELATED: Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

“I WANNA THANK MY FANS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT,” said Brown’s final tweet, posted Monday afternoon. “I LOVE YALL. GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Over the weekend, Brown went on a tirade after he visited a Wal-Mart store in Connecticut and didn’t see his album on shelves.

“The didnt even have my album in the back … not on shelves, saw for myself,” he tweeted.

Brown said he spoke to the manager, who had no answers.

RELATED: Outrage As “Good Morning America” Books Chris Brown

“the manager told me that when there are new releases its mandatory to put em on the shelves. BUT NO SIGN OF #GRAFFITI. BS,” he tweeted.

He continued to say that Alicia Keys’ new album was stocked and ready for release, though it wasn’t due out until Tuesday.

Click here to read more.

—————
[12:22 p.m. - 12/14/2009] – Chris Brown Complains On Twitter That Stores Won’t Stock His Album

From MSNBC:

Chris Brown’s first new album since the singer pled guilty to a February assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna was released last week, but some retailers aren’t carrying it.

RELATED: Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

Brown lashed out at those retailers that aren’t stocking “Graffiti” via his Twitter feed, and he’s not just angry at stores, he’s angry at the industry as a whole.

Note: The following tweets are edited only in order to achieve a PG rating. All other spelling/syntax remains the same.

rown began his tirade at 3:04 p.m., Dec 11, “im tired of this s***. major stores r blackballing my cd. not stockin the shelves and lying to costumers. what the f*** do i gotta do…”

RELATED: Outrage As “Good Morning America” Books Chris Brown

He followed that up minutes later with ”WTF… yeah i said it and i aint retracting s***.”

At 3:12 p.m., he stated the obvious: “im not biting my tongue about s*** else… the industry can kiss my ass.”

Click here to read more.

From NYPost.com:

ABC has booked Rihanna-beater Chris Brown for an interview and a performance on “Good Morning America” — right after the network canceled guy-kisser Adam Lambert.

Brown will do a taped tell-all with Robin Roberts, followed by a performance of songs from his new album. But TV insiders say the appearance, slated to air the week after next, has outraged feminists and gay activists who wonder why a convicted girlfriend abuser is more palatable to the network than an openly gay man who broke no laws with his raunchy performance on the “American Music Awards.”

An ABC source said, “The network is giving a mixed message — that it doesn’t trust someone who shocked with an unpredictable show and a gay kiss, but then it is happy to go ahead with Chris Brown, who was convicted of felony assault.”

ABC News has insisted that Lambert’s sexual orientation did not play a role in its decision to pull the plug on his “GMA” appearance this week.

Click here to read more.

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Rihanna: Chris Had “No Soul In His Eyes”

2009 has been a pretty tough year. The honeymoon with President Obama came to a screeching halt, the economy remained in bad shape, and there was an avalanche of celebrity deaths this summer. But it wasn’t all bad news! In the spirit of the holiday, here are 10 news stories we were thankful to read this year:

Judge Finds Government At Fault For Levees Breaking During Katrina -”In a ruling that could leave the government open to billions of dollars in claims from Hurricane Katrina victims, a federal judge said late Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had displayed “gross negligence” in failing to maintain a navigation channel — resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans.”

Why we’re thankful: This ruling will give New Orleans residents an opportunity to get financial help recovering from devastation that might have been avoided with better oversight. That’s justice.

Obama Signs Bill Expanding Hate Crime Laws To Cover Gay People – The measure expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to the must-pass defense policy bill over the stern objections of many Republicans.

Why we’re thankful: Crimes perpetrated out of bias against people due to sexual orientation have been on the rise since last year. Thanks to the passage of this legislation, victims are now afforded protection under the law. While there’s more work yet to be done on the issue of gay rights, this is a start.

“Princess & The Frog” Merchandise In High Demand – “More than 45,000 dolls have sold in less than a month with 17,000 selling last week alone. At one major retailer, The Princess and the Frog bedding has sold nearly triple the amount of regular Disney Princess bedding. At Disney Store locations nationwide and DisneyStore.com, the Princess Tiana role-play dresses are selling above all other Disney Princess characters.”

Why we’re thankful: The more people vote with their wallets and support “The Princess and the Frog,” the more Disney will realize there is an audience out there for characters of color. Tiana may be the first and only Black Disney princess now, but with enough positive reinforcement, she won’t be the last.

Rihanna Speaks To Diane Sawyer About Chris Brown Beating – “Rihanna warned other women facing domestic violence to not let themselves become blinded by love. She also said she regretted going back to Brown, saying it sent the wrong message to her fans.”

Why we’re thankful: Rihanna’s willingness to speak out let young domestic violence victims know that they aren’t alone, and hopefully even gave some the courage to leave their abusers.

Landmark Health Care Bill Narrowly Passes The House – “The Democratic-controlled House has narrowly passed landmark health care reform legislation, handing President Barack Obama a hard won victory on his top domestic priority. Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing the plan that would expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.”

Why we’re thankful: While we won’t know for a while what the Senate will decide on health care, the passage of this bill in the House brought the nation one step closer to caring for the health of all citizens at prices that won’t bankrupt families. We hope health care reform makes it all the way to President Obama’s desk.

“Precious” Breaks Box Office Records In Limited Release – “Oscar hopeful ‘Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire’ was a hit with audiences its opening weekend. The gritty inner-city drama, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, made $1.8 million at 18 theaters in its first weekend of limited release, according to Variety. The film scored an average of $100,000 per theater — reportedly a record.”

Why we’re thankful: Overweight, dark-skinned, poor — people who meet these descriptions don’t often find their stories told in skinny, white-washed, and glamorous Hollywood. “Precious” not only changed the face of the movies, it did so while receiving widespread critical acclaim and box office success, showing that there’s room for a greater diversity of perspectives and actors in the mainstream.

Number Of Black Americans With 4-Year Degrees Reaches New High – Nearly 4.6 million African-Americans hold a four-year college degree, a new high, but a large racial gap in degree attainment still exists and does not appear to be shrinking, according to a report in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Why we’re thankful: Making strides in education can only mean future uplift for our community, and that’s something worth celebrating.

Mattel Introduces Black Barbies With More “Authentic Features” – “Mattel announced Tuesday that it is launching a line of black dolls with more ‘authentic facial characteristics’ than the company’s dolls have featured until now. The dolls, which are part of the ‘So In Style’ line have ‘fuller lips, a wider nose, more distinctive cheek bones and curlier hair,’ according to the world’s biggest toymaker.”

Why we’re thankful: Given the chance to see themselves reflected in their dolls, more little girls will undoubtedly come to see that beauty comes in all shades.

Lou Dobbs Leaves His Nightly Show -”CNN’s Lou Dobbs stepped down from his controversial role as an advocacy anchor at the network at the end of his show Wednesday night, saying he plans to seek a more activist role.”

Why we’re thankful: CNN is the network many look to for straight, unbiased news. Freed from Dobbs’ special brand of xenophobia and general craziness, CNN just became a little more trustworthy.

And finally, the one thing we’re as thankful for today as we were last year …

The president is (still) Black.

Happy Thanksgiving from NewsOne!

When I heard that Chris Brown hit his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, I was concerned and surprised.  I also found myself irritated by the fact that many women, along with my teenage daughters, were quick to forgive Chris for his actions, primarily because they think he has a great voice and a cute face.  I had little sympathy for Chris Brown, and doing something like that to one of my girls would’ve had him singing a cappella for the rest of his life.

RELATED: Rihanna: Chris Brown “Had No Soul In His Eyes”

But that’s where I have to get off the Chris Brown bashing bus.  In spite of my frustration with Chris’ behavior, I cannot endorse the media’s decision to turn his relationship with Rihanna into a one-sided slugfest, committed by yet another violent black man whose rage consistently overrides his intellect.  I also cannot endorse Rihanna’s decision to bring ABC News into her relationship, portraying herself as the completely innocent victim who was terrorized by the big, scary black man.  Yes, she is the victim, but we all know that love is not that simple.

Let’s be clear: No man should ever put his hands on a woman in a violent way.  We all agree on that.   Not only is it morally wrong, but it’s an easy way for a man to find himself in jail (especially if he’s black).  We should also agree that no woman should put her hands on any man.  The second point might be subject to disagreement, but the truth is that you shouldn’t hit someone if you don’t expect to get hit back.  While that person might end up being punished by the police, you might end up in the morgue.  We can also agree that the disproportionate amount of force that a man is capable of inflicting is a legitimate reason that the man is more to blame than the woman, even if both parties are involved in a physical altercation.

RELATED: Rihanna Says Working On Album Helped Her Recovery

But the problem with Rihanna’s appearance on ABC News is that there is no productive reason for any of us to hear the details of a relationship between two 19-year olds.  I’m sorry, but most relationships at that age are fundamentally stupid, and hearing one side of the situation is almost always going to guarantee that you’re not going to get the whole truth.  If only I was allowed to go onto national TV at the age of 19 to tell the world about my terrible college girlfriend who slapped me repeatedly just to get my attention.  Yes, I thought she was a horrible person, but the truth is that we were both pretty ridiculous in our behavior.  Of course, Rihanna’s situation is different, since she was the victim of serious physical abuse, but the truth is that she can focus on fighting against domestic violence without using ABC News as a platform to get everyone to hate Chris Brown as much as she does.  Yeah, there was the whole “I still love him and wish him well” speech, but we all know that you can massage someone with your right hand and stab them with your left.

Secondly, given that there was no logical reason for Rihanna to turn ABC News into an episode of “Everybody Hates Chris,” one can only conclude that her interview was a publicity stunt.  I think that Rihanna’s message could be just as effective if she were to say, “I have been physically abused by a man.  I believe that any woman involved in domestic violence should leave the relationship.”  That would be enough.  We don’t need the he-say, she-say, with all the juicy details in-between.   The alleged goal of the conversation is to teach young women like my daughters to stay away from violent men and to teach couples to love each other more effectively.  The objective was not to make this into a national soap opera.

Finally, let’s not forget this important point:  Chris Brown was 19-years old when the incident took place.  Chris is not R. Kelly, a man who is probably too old to be redeemed or even trusted.  Chris likely learned some valuable lessons from this experience, as young love teaches lessons to us all.  The idea that Oprah Winfrey and others would abandon and condemn Chris rather than counsel and scold him implies that their hostility toward Brown was likely a projection of their own painful experiences with men.  Let’s be clear: Chris deserves to have his butt kicked over this one.  But he is too young to be condemned as some kind of irreversible monster.  Love between teenagers can be both passionate and explosive; damn near anything can happen.  Don’t pretend like you don’t know this yourself.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  He is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Black American Money.”  For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.

NEW YORK — Rihanna on Friday described the horror she felt as her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was biting and punching her during a violent argument in February, saying she saw “no soul in his eyes.”

“There was no person when I looked at him,” the 21-year-old singer recalled during portions of an interview with Diane Sawyer airing on ABC’s “20/20″ and, earlier, “Good Morning America.” ”He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank.”

Brown was arrested Feb. 8, hours after he was accused of beating Rihanna after the two argued over another woman. The singer later pleaded guilty to felony assault.

RELATED: Rihanna Speaks About Assault For First Time On Good Morning America

In the interview, Rihanna, who is no longer with Brown, described him as “definitely my first big love.” She said their relationship was intense.

“The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other — equally as dangerous,” she said. “It was a bit of an obsession almost.”

The attack occurred in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood as Brown drove a rented sports car. She said it was triggered when she saw a text message on his phone from another woman and confronted him about it. She said he lied about it and “I wouldn’t drop it.”

A search warrant affidavit filed in the case stated that Brown hit, choked and bit Rihanna and tried at one point to push her from the car.

“It was ugly,” she said.

During the beating, the singer said she had no idea how it would end: “That’s all I kept thinking the whole time, ‘When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop?’”

RELATED: Rihanna Says Working On Album Helped Her Recovery

Brown was sentenced to five years’ probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling after he pleaded guilty to felony assault.

Rihanna said that, even after her physical wounds had healed, she felt embarrassment and shame.

“You start thinking, ‘What could I possibly have said to make him hit me and do this?’ … I didn’t talk about it to anyone. To no one. Not my friends, not my family. I didn’t want people looking at me and feeling sorry for me, like, ‘There goes the victim,’” she said.

Rihanna warned other women facing domestic violence to not let themselves become blinded by love. She also said she regretted going back to Brown, saying it sent the wrong message to her fans.

Brown, 20, has apologized to fans and has said he has repeatedly apologized to Rihanna for the attack.

Despite the beating, Rihanna said she still cares about Brown.

“I don’t hate him at all,” she said. “I actually love and care about him and I’m concerned about him doing well. I want him to do well — have a great career, have a great life, and grow up. Just take this as something that you had to go through to grow up and learn.”

Rihanna’s interview coincides with the debut of her new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her upcoming album, “Rated R.”

From MSNBC:

Rihanna has sold more than 12 million albums, and has had four No. 1 songs, but now her fame revolves mostly around one fight.

The singer hopes that will change on Nov. 16, when her first live performance since her Feb. 8 assault is streamed worldwide by Nokia mobile music. And when her album “Rated R” drops a week later, she believes fans will have insight into what transpired between her and ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in the wee hours of that morning.

“I can tell you that making this album was my recovery. It’s the way I vented and expressed myself,” a confident Rihanna said in our interview. “The minute I decided to leave the house again, I called up (Roc Nation A&R executive) Jay Brown and said ‘I want to do music, I want to go back in the studio,’ and we just did that. We started collecting songs and sounds and putting producers together, figuring out who we want to work with to develop new sounds.”

Click here to read more.

RELATED STORIES

Rihanna Speaks About Assault For First Time On Good Morning America

Two LAPD Officers Put On Leave Over Rihanna Photo Leak

LOS ANGELES — The first interview with Rihanna about Chris Brown’s assault on her is airing this week on ABC.

The network says the pop star’s one-on-one with Diane Sawyer will air Thursday and Friday on “Good Morning America” and Friday evening on the news magazine “20/20.”

Brown’s attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna occurred in February. He was sentenced in August to five years’ probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling after he pleaded guilty to felony assault.

Rihanna’s ABC interview coincides with the debut of her new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her upcoming album, “Rated R.” It’s her first CD since 2007′s multiplatinum “Good Girl Gone Bad.”

RELATED STORIES

Chris Brown Doesn’t Remember Beating Rihanna, Still Loves Her

Two LAPD Officers Put On Leave Over Rihanna Photo Leak

From The Root:

When my daughter and I removed the Chris Brown posters from her bedroom wall, it had the feel of a ritual. We moved in silence and with a sense of mourning, carefully folding the posters like the flag for a fallen soldier—before placing them in the trash.

It was a week after the allegations surfaced. And then there was the photo showing a bruised, battered and bloody Rihanna. My teenage daughter was a devoted fan of Brown, and I’d been drawn in, too. The guy has talent coming out of his ears. He seemed charming. And surprisingly normal. After the news of his violent attack on Rihanna surfaced, my daughter was confused and angry and finally wept in frustration.

RELATED: Black Women Disproportionately Affected By Domestic Violence

“Now I’m really gonna kill you!” These are the words Brown threatened Rihanna with. The use of his fists shattered the façade he had so carefully crafted of the sweet Boy Next Door. It’s an image too many young girls still cling to, even as Brown has revealed himself to be a dangerously troubled young man. He was seen this summer, for example, wearing a $300K chain that spelled out “Ooops!”

“What did she say to make him hit her?”

“Well, I heard she hit him first.”

These were the words of young black girls on the radio and in newspaper interviews. They defended Brown and blamed Rihanna.

And so it is too often with domestic violence. Women blame the woman. Men blame the woman. Maybe the woman even blames herself. Others like P. Diddy, who famously got called out by talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres for offering his Florida home as a post-assault rendezvous for the Brown and Rihanna, use the old dodge, “nobody really knows what happened.” Yes, we do. We know that a 6’1” man beat, choked, bit, punched and threatened a woman. That he’d done it before. That he left her bloody on the side of the road. And we know that it’s wrong. There is nothing that she could have said that would justify what Brown did to her.

RELATED: Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

But what if she hit him? Jimi Izrael, one of The Root’s bloggers asked, “when is Rihanna gonna be prosecuted for hitting Brown?” Even if she slapped him first, Brown’s conduct was disproportionate and brutal. Trying to find a sense of gender symmetry to domestic violence is the equivalent of white people pointing out incidents of black bigotry to refute the reality of systematic and institutional white supremacy. Of course, a woman should never hit a man. And of course, there are women who commit domestic violence against men. They should be prosecuted and receive counseling, just as male batterers should. But the vast and overwhelming instances of domestic violence are still just what we imagine: Men and boys physically abusing their girlfriends and wives. (Here in Baltimore, where I live, we’re starting to hear about a disturbing new trend: Sons beating their mothers.) Eighty-five percent of domestic violence victims nationwide are women. The fact that women can be perpetrators and men their victims doesn’t change this reality.

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Chris Brown has started his community service and RadarOnline.com got the exclusive photos to prove it.

The singer, dressed in an orange vest and red baseball cap, appears to be pulling weeds on a roadside.

The R&B singer tweeted Wednesday morning ‘on my way to community service…’

Chris was sentenced to 60-months felony probation and ordered by a judge to attend a 52-week domestic violence program and perform 56-weeks of community service following his February assault on then girlfriend Rihanna.

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[SOURCE: Radar Online]

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From CNN:

Two LAPD officers have been placed on paid administrative leave in the ongoing police investigation into who leaked Rihanna’s injury photo.

Officer Rebecca Reyes, a nine-year employee of the department, is under investigation for both criminal and administrative issues, her lawyer Ira Salzman confirms to PEOPLE.

Salzman adds that search warrants were executed on Reyes’s home in late June, and her computer and cell phone records have been seized.

“But my client did not sell any photos for profit,” Salzman says. “She did not commit any criminal act.”

A second officer, Blanca Lopez, a rookie employee who is a former housemate of Reyes’s, is also on paid administrative leave in connection with the investigation.

“My client is flabbergasted, having been dragged into the investigation,” says her attorney Robert Rico. “She never saw the photograph of Rihanna until it came out on TV.”

Both attorneys say their clients are officers of good standing with the department.

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Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown and Natalie Cole will be among the top artists performing at a Sept. 26 Michael Jackson tributeconcert in Vienna, organizers said Tuesday.

Jackson’s brother Jermaine told reporters that up to 25 performers are expected to perform outside a 17th-century palace in the Austrian capital. More names will be unveiled later this week in London andBerlin, he said.

Sister Sledge, Akon, Angela Bassett, and the Germany-based boy band US5 are also among the 13 artists confirmed so far, Jackson and event promoter Georg Kindel said. Jackson’s original band and dancers will also perform.

All the artists will play some of Jackson’s greatest hits at the concert, including “Thriller,” “Billie Jean” and “Black or White.”

Organizers are billing the event as the main global tribute to Jackson, who died June 25 in Los Angeles. Jackson’s family and children will be in Vienna, and 65,000 fans are expected to attend, Kindel said.

Organizers say the tribute will be held on a large crown-shaped stage to be built in front of Vienna’s former imperial Schoenbrunn Palace, one of the Austrian capital’s top tourist attractions.

Jermaine Jackson has said Vienna was chosen as the venue because his brother “loved castles,” and because Jermaine was impressed with how a smaller tribute held in July outside a mothballed nuclear power plant was organized.

Negotiations are ongoing to select a broadcaster to show the event live to an estimated 1 billion fans worldwide, Jackson said.

Tickets went on sale last month.

From Parade Magazine:

In a new interview with People magazine, Chris Brown was asked how he felt about the fact that Oprah did a show on abuse, inspired by Rihanna. The show, which ran in March was “dedicated to all the Rihannas of the world.”

“I commend Oprah on being like, ‘This is a problem,’ but it was a slap in my face. I did a lot of stuff for her, like going to Africa and performing for her school. She could have been more helpful, like, ‘OK, I’m going to help both of these people out,” Brown said.

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LOS ANGELES – Chris Brown says he doesn’t remember savagely beating Rihanna and claims he still loves his former girlfriend.

In his first public interviews on the subject, the R&B singer told People magazine and CNN’s Larry King that his feelings haven’t changed for Rihanna since the February beating that left her bloody and bruised.

“I never fell out of love with her,” Brown told People. “That just wouldn’t go away.”

Brown told King in an interview scheduled to air on Wednesday night that he is still in shock about his actions. Brown’s mother, Joyce Hawkins, accompanied her son during both interviews.

“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t believe that that actually happened,” Brown told King.

Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in June and last week was sentenced to five years of probation, a year of domestic violence counseling and six months of community labor. He will serve his sentence in his home state of Virginia.

A judge also ordered Brown, 20, and Rihanna, 21, to stay away from each other.

A police affidavit and probation report detail the beating, which included Brown hitting, biting and choking Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. The attack occurred in a car after the couple attended a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Brown’s interview with People will be published in an issue released on Friday. He told the magazine he called his mother, who was a domestic violence victim, the night of the attack.

“I was distraught. I went to my mom on the same night and told (her) what happened and broke down.”

Brown released a video statement last month in which he apologized to fans and said he had repeatedly apologized to Rihanna for the attack.

Watch a preview of Chris Brown’s interview with Larry King:

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Chris Brown Sentenced To 5 Years Felony Probation

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From CNN:

LOS ANGELES, California — Pop singer Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years probation and to spend more than 1,400 hours in “labor-oriented service” for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna.

Also Tuesday, CNN obtained a probation report for Brown that says the pair were involved in at least two other domestic violence incidents before the February attack for which Brown was sentenced.

The probation report, which CNN obtained after Brown’s sentencing, was used to reach his plea agreement.

Brown, 20, was arrested after an early morning argument inside a rented Lamborghini on a Hollywood street on February 8.

Police investigating the February 8 attack “learned of two earlier incidents related to domestic violence that went unreported,” the probation report said.

“The first incident occurred in Europe about three months before the present offense,” the report said. “The victim [Rihanna] and the defendant [Brown] were involved in a verbal dispute and the victim [Rihanna] slapped the defendant [Brown]. He responded by shoving her into a wall.”

Another incident happened in January, three weeks before the Hollywood incident, when Brown and Rihanna were visiting her home country of Barbados, the report said.

“The defendant [Brown] and the victim [Rihanna] were visiting Barbados and were driving a Range Rover loaned to them by a local dealership,” the investigator wrote. “They had an argument inside the car. The defendant [Brown] exited and broke the front driver and passenger side windows of the car.”

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LOS ANGELES – Singer Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to five years of felony probation and 180 days of community labor for the beating of his ex-girlfriend, pop star Rihanna.

Brown must report to probation within 72 hours. The community labor, to be performed in Brown’s home state of Virginia, is to include tasks such as graffiti removal and trash pick up.

Brown must also complete a 52-week domestic violence program and a protective order was issued directing Brown to stay away from Rihanna.

The sentencing hearing in downtown Los Angeles was moved up two days at the request of Brown’s attorney, Mark Geragos. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.

His sentencing earlier this month was delayed after a judge learned that authorities in Virginia, where Brown wants to serve probation, hadn’t yet agreed to a probation plan.

Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna in June. He was arrested after the pair fought hours before February’s Grammys.

Geragos, said Tuesday that he did not expect there to be any more problems with the sentencing.

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Judge Wants Chris Brown To Pick Up Trash

VIDEO: Chris Brown Apologizes For Rihanna Assault

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