*A judge has dismissed Chris Brown’s defamation lawsuit against the companies behind the 2024 documentary “Chris Brown: A History of Violence.”
According to “Billboard,” a court order issued on Monday, January 12, threw out the $500 million lawsuit Brown filed against Warner Bros. Discovery and Ample Entertainment. The 36-year-old singer sued the companies last January, accusing them of “promoting and publishing false information in the pursuit of likes, clicks, downloads, and dollars.”
The documentary looks at several assault and sexual abuse allegations made against Brown over the years. One of the most serious claims came from a woman who said Brown raped her on Sean “Diddy” Combs’ yacht in 2020. Brown’s lawyers argued in the lawsuit that the woman’s story had fallen apart because of contradictions in her account. They also claimed she hid text messages that could have been used as evidence after she reported the alleged incident to the police.
But in his dismissal order, Judge Colin Leis said the court found that the documentary addressed those issues fairly.
“The court has personally viewed the entire documentary. The documentary recites most of the inconsistencies plaintiff notes, including the existence of the text messages,” the judge wrote. He added that the filmmakers presented a balanced account.
“Media defendants thus presented a ‘fair and true’ report of [the woman’s] statements and the judicial record and proceedings,” read the ruling.
Brown also claimed he was defamed by comments made in the documentary by writer Scaachi Koul, who said Brown has a “predisposition for punching women in the face.” The judge rejected that argument, noting that Brown had himself previously “admitted to punching the singer Rihanna,” and that Brown “presents no evidence that Scaachi Koul’s opinions… are false.”
In 2009, Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna, an incident that left her with visible facial injuries. That same year, he pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to probation, domestic violence counseling, and community service. Over the years, several other women have accused him of violence.
The 2020 rape lawsuit mentioned in the documentary (related to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ yacht) was later dismissed.
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