Kelly Rowland Defends Chris Brown After Boos From AMAs Crowd
Chris Brown has a friend in Kelly Rowland.
On Sunday, Breezy took home the fan-voted award for Favorite Male R&B Artist at the 2022 American Music Awards. When Kelly announced Chris as the winner, there were some boos and gasps from the crowd at L.A.’s Microsoft Theater during the live broadcast.
But Kelly wasn’t having it. She promptly shut down the rowdy crowd after they appeared to disapprove of Chris’ win against The Weeknd, Brent Faiyaz, Lucky Daye, and Giveon.
“Excuse me, chill out,” she said before giving Chris his flowers. “But I want to tell Chris thank you so much for making great R&B music. And I want to thank you for being an incredible performer. I’ll take this award, bring it to you. I love you. Congratulations!”
— v (@ViralMaterialz) November 21, 2022
Rowland received support and backlash on social media. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to people. I appreciate Kelly for that,” commented one person, while another responded by bringing up Chris’ past. “It takes more courage to denounce an abuser in front of a crowd like that.”
It takes more courage to denounce an abuser in front of a crowd like that
— Constance de Bonacieux II 🏳️🌈 (@B1844Constance) November 21, 2022
Kelly is a real one. pic.twitter.com/TtLs3MMNbv
— Glodzaà (@Glodzaa) November 21, 2022
We know Chris Brown did something horrible when he was 19. But my issue is the media picks & chooses who to hold accountable & who not. Mark Walhberg been having a non judgmental career for yrs & he attacked a man causing him to be blind whilst calling him a racial slur.
— Ruthy (@ruthyvbz) November 19, 2022
Kelly’s comments come after Brown’s performance at the AMAs was canceled. He was slated to pay tribute to Michael Jackson, but it was scrapped at the last minute for unknown reasons.
Chris shared footage from his rehearsals where he performed a medley of MJ hits in honor of the 40th anniversary of Thriller.
In his caption, he wrote, “U SERIOUS?” before revealing that the AMAs “cancelled me for reasons unknown.”
Ciara was also supposed to take part in the MJ tribute. She posted a video of her and Chris dancing to “Thriller” during rehearsals while sharing her support for Chris.
“MJ thank you for the inspiration you’ve given us all! Thriller 40th Anniversary,” wrote Ciara. “@ChrisBrown you’re a rare breed of this generation. Always fun to rock with you.”
MJ thank you for the inspiration you’ve given us all! Thriller 40th Anniversary. @ChrisBrown you’re a rare breed of this generation. Always fun to rock with you 💃🏽 pic.twitter.com/dzXgDzLMFk
— Ciara (@ciara) November 21, 2022