Do we like them?

Do we like Chris Brown?

Our score: 0 out of 10. He pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna in 2009 and to affray after a 2026 bottle attack, with little real good on the record to set against it.

Chris Brown is one of the biggest R&B names of his generation, still selling out stadiums, and in 2026 he released a 12th album and announced a joint tour with Usher. But the story that follows him everywhere began in 2009, when he pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna. Most of the backlash to his recent stadium shows comes back to that one night.

The latest chapter is a London nightclub. Prosecutors said Brown hit music producer Abraham Diaw with a bottle at the Tape club in February 2023, in an attack that lasted about 20 seconds, and called it vicious and unprovoked. Brown denied the more serious charges but pleaded guilty to affray in July, and the judge said “This was serious, public violence.”

The sentence was eight months, suspended for 12, so he only goes inside if he offends again. The judge told him the law applies equally to everyone, so fame didn't buy any special treatment. Not jail, but not a slap on the wrist either, and a second guilty plea to violence against a person.

Then September's Texas stoush. A state representative presented Brown with a proclamation at his Arlington show, and a congresswoman entered him and Usher into the Congressional Record. After the criticism the state representative apologised to Black women and deleted his photo. Brown's reply was to tell him to “Keep that award” and say he never asked for it.

Away from the courts, the good stuff is thin and old. He gave out about 1,000 sneakers to kids in Compton in 2013, and pledged $1 from each copy of his 2015 album Royalty to children's hospitals. That's real, but it's years back and it doesn't outweigh a pattern of violence. A jury also awarded a former housekeeper damages in a dog-attack lawsuit, which a judge cut to $9.5 million.

Put together, he can make a banger, but we can't back someone with two guilty pleas to violence and a habit of brushing off critics. Fans can enjoy the music, but this page can't give him a tick. Nothing about the evidence suggests a changed man.