Singer Chris Brown is suing Warner Bros. Discovery for $500 million over sexual assault allegations leveled against him in the documentary, "Chris Brown: A History of Violence."
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Brown is accusing Warner Bros. Discovery and the production company Ample Entertainment of inflicting emotional distress through defamatory and libelous claims made in the documentary.
The suit stated that the companies promoted and published "false information in their pursuit of likes, clicks, downloads and dollars” to the detriment of Brown, despite “knowing that it was full of lies and deception," violating basic journalistic principles.
The documentary, which was released in October 2024, dove into the singer’s alleged violent past and history of legal woes, examining Brown's relationships with women who reported experiences of violence, sexual assault and physical abuse. It also included claims from a Jane Doe who had previously sued Brown in 2022 for allegedly drugging and assaulting her during a 2020 yacht party hosted by disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“To put it simply, this case is about the media putting their own profits over the truth. They did so after being provided proof that their information was false, and their storytelling ‘Jane Doe’ had not only been discredited over and over but was in fact a perpetrator of intimate partners violence and aggressor herself,” the complaint claimed.
“Mr. Brown has never been found guilty of any sex-related crime . . . but this documentary states in every available fashion that he is a serial rapist and sexual abuser,” the suit read.
Brown's lawsuit also named the Jane Doe as a defendant, claiming that the sexual assault and battery allegations “were determined to be entirely fabricated, leading to the withdrawal of her attorneys and dismissal of the case.” The complaint accused the Jane Doe of “completely disregarding the facts in an attempt for fame and fortune."
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, Brown's legal team also brought to light Jane Doe's own relationship history. Brown's lawsuit said the Jane Doe had “history of violence and erratic behavior [that] should have raised red flags for any responsible journalist,” citing an image of an alleged restraining order against the woman from an ex-boyfriend four years ago. The lawsuit called the Jane Doe “a perpetrator of intimate partner violence and aggressor herself.”
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Brown's attorneys are now accusing Warner Bros. and the documentary's producers of ignoring the incident so they could instead frame her as a "reliable source to bolster their sensationalized portrayal instead of the physical aggressor in a romantic relationship.”
Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Rolling Stone reported.
However, the lawsuit also admitted that the singer has made mistakes in his past, like the highly publicized 2009 assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna, which has been “publicly acknowledged and addressed by him." Since then, Brown has “grown from those experiences, and his evolution speaks for itself.”
Last summer, Brown and his entourage were sued for $50 million for an alleged assault against concertgoers that was said to have taken place backstage at Brown's own concert in Texas. The concertgoers asked for a temporary restraining order against Brown, Variety reported. In 2017, Brown's ex-girlfriend Karreuche Tran received a five-year restraining order against him over alleged threats and stalking.
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