Chris Brown was the middle of greater than only one occasion of drama on the AMAs!
By now, you’ve in all probability seen the viral finger-wagging clip of Kelly Rowland silencing boos from the viewers at Sunday night time’s American Music Awards after she introduced the musician received the award for Favorite Male R&B Artist. He, after all, wasn’t in attendance so she accepted the respect on his behalf whereas standing up for him towards the hate.
But if solely he had Kelly in his nook earlier within the week!
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As it seems, Chris was imagined to be on the glitzy music occasion over the weekend — and never simply within the viewers. He was scheduled to take the stage throughout a TV occasion for the primary time for the reason that #MeToo motion hit Hollywood. It would’ve been his first televised efficiency for the reason that 2017 BET Awards. A fairly large deal, particularly since he (a convicted home abuser) was going to be honoring Michael Jackson… who has confronted disturbing youngster molestation accusations. Oof. What a problematic pairing…
Ahead of the efficiency, journalist Matthew Belloni for Puck News reached out to Disney and ABC to get the 411 on the controversial tribute — solely to be taught the higher-ups (in some way) had no clue this was occurring, inciting main drama behind the scenes of the reside present. Yeesh!
According to a number of sources on either side of the difficulty who spoke to the outlet on Sunday, Jesse Collins and Stephen Hill, who govt produced the present for Dick Clark Productions, had been working with CB and his workforce on a medley of MJ hits with Ciara and different artists to honor the fortieth anniversary of Thriller.
But additionally on the setlist? Beat It. Which, you recognize, is a daring AF alternative contemplating Brown plead responsible to physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. He’s additionally been accused of a number of different cases of abuse (together with allegedly hitting one other lady as just lately as final 12 months). Seeing him carry out a music with that title would have been wildly insensitive and ripe for controversy!
But, apparently, the EPs (particularly Hill ,who had an excellent relationship with the songwriter after being a former programming chief at BET) had been excited to offer the singer an opportunity to return to TV, particularly after listening to him complain in August about being shadow-banned from the trade for his previous conduct. But was this actually the greatest determination on Disney’s half??
Well, Matthew needed to know simply that and determined to name for a remark final weekend, however as a substitute of getting solutions, he ended up opening a can of worms. Apparently, Disney/ABC execs had no clue about these efficiency plans. ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich was then alerted and Rob Mills, the community’s head of different and specials, went again to the producers to nix the plan. Per Puck’s sources, Collins and Hill had been livid. In a name with Mills, they defined the backlash they assumed they’d get from Chris and his large following in the event that they axed the tribute. This led to a serious debate between Erwich, Mills, the Disney/ABC PR workforce, and Felicia Joseph, head of ABC expertise. Even Disney TV chief Dana Walden was briefed on the drama. Damn!
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Interestingly, regardless of the numerous allegations towards the 33-year-old crooner, Disney wasn’t towards him taking the stage, they simply didn’t just like the preplanned tribute for the reason that content material was doubtless going to create a large scandal. Instead, they advised the producers discover a solution to embrace a efficiency from Chris extra thoughtfully — however the artist, who had already been rehearsing, had no real interest in altering issues up, which the EPs assumed could be the case.
After the tribute was canned, the singer went on to slam the AMAs on social media. While sharing rehearsal footage on Instagram, he wrote on Friday:
“WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown.”
Ciara did the identical factor — test it out:
Well, the explanations weren’t unknown in any respect!
And if Chris actually needed to carry out, he doubtless might have since a non-Jackson workaround was on the desk if he was recreation. But, alas, he wasn’t. Meanwhile, Ciara did swap issues up and as a substitute offered an award on the present. According to the outlet, D.C.P. president Adam Stotsky apologized to the House of Mouse for any miscommunication, whereas a rep advised Puck:
“Live shows change all the time, it’s the nature of this business. Unfortunately, this element of the AMAs didn’t come together as we couldn’t align on the performance, to no fault of Chris Brown.”
Hmm. Kinda looks as if it IS his fault although! We imply, his historical past of abuse was a part of the issue! ABC has but to touch upon the scandal. It’s onerous to think about anybody would’ve thought this tribute — and particularly the inclusion of the music Beat It — would have been an acceptable approach for Chris to return to TV! Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Which aspect of the controversy are YOU on? Let us know (under)!
If you or somebody you recognize is experiencing home violence, assist is offered. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or textual content START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Michael Jackson/REVOLT/YouTube]