Chris Brown sues Warner Bros. Discovery for $500million following sexual assault allegations in documentary

Chris Brown is suing Warner Bros. for $500million following allegations of sexual assault put forward in a recent documentary.

Titled Chris Brown: A History of Violence, the documentary arrived in October last year and came from the same production team that made the Quiet On Set exposé which explored the toxic culture at Nickelodeon in the ’90s.

Ahead of its release, it was described as diving into the rapper’s “years of alleged offstage aggression, including intimate-partner violence, assault charges and even sexual assault allegations”. It also included a claim from a woman going by Jane Doe who sued Brown for allegedly drugging and assaulting her at one of Diddy’s 2020 yacht parties.

In the filing by Brown’s legal team, Warner Bros. Discovery and production company Ample Entertainment face accusations of “promoting and publishing false information in their pursuit of likes, clicks, downloads and dollars and to the detriment” of Brown (via Rolling Stone). It also adds that this was done despite “knowing that it was full of lies and deception and violating basic journalistic principles.”

Filed at Los Angeles Superior Court, the case reads (as per RS): “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.

“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.”

It also makes reference to the Jane Doe lawsuit, which was filed in 2022, describing it as “frivolous” and put forward “in an attempt for fame and fortune”.

It adds that allegations she raised against Brown “were determined to be entirely fabricated, leading to the withdrawal of her attorneys and dismissal of the case,” as well as alleging that Doe has a “history of violence and erratic behaviour [that] should have raised red flags for any responsible journalist.”

The latter is laid out in the lawsuit alongside an alleged restraining order she was served in 2021 by an ex-partner, who claimed that she “physically assaulted him, threatened him with a knife, and engaged in online harassment.”

“This case is about protecting the truth,” said Brown’s lawyer, Levi McCathern, in a new statement. “Despite being provided with evidence disproving their claims, the producers of this documentary intentionally promoted false and defamatory information, knowingly disregarding their ethical obligations as journalists.”

NME has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for comment.

Accusations of sexual assault levelled against the rapper over the years include him assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. He was found guilty of felony assault and sentenced to five years probation, counselling and six months community service.

In 2021, the artist was reportedly under police investigation over the alleged battery of a woman, charges that were later dropped due to “insufficient evidence”. Then, in October 2023, he was sued for allegedly hospitalising a man after he beat him with a tequila bottle and stomped on him in a nightclub.

In February 2023, Brown reacted to a renewed set of criticism he was receiving after the release of a collaboration with Chlöe Bailey. He wrote: “If y’all still hate me for a mistake I made as a 17-year-old, please kiss my whole entire ass. I’m fucking 33. I’m so tired of y’all running with this narrative.”

Last July, Brown was sued for the alleged assault of a group of concertgoers. The suit alleged that the singer and his crew “brutally and severely beat” the individuals “without justifiable provocation”, after they had been invited into Brown’s VIP area at a concert in Fort Worth, Texas. Brown has not commented on the case, which is still ongoing.

The rapper has faced a number of other legal battles in recent years, including potential jail time for owning a pet monkey and a lawsuit over an alleged dog attack involving his housekeeper, for which charges were upheld last year.

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