Chris Brown Loses His Cool With Staff After Getting Stuck Suspended in Air During Concert

Chris Brown ran into some trouble during a performance in Newark on Wednesday night.

Brown, who launched his 11:11 Tour last week, was captured on video after he got stuck while suspended in the air mid-song seemingly due to his wires malfunctioning. In a video obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, the 35-year-old singer comes to an abrupt halt while performing his song “Under the Influence” for fans at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. 

Despite the technical difficulty, the singer keeps performing the song as his dancers continue their routine around his suspended figure. Although Brown continues singing, at one point he becomes more visibly agitated as he awaits rescue, making frustrated gestures with his hands and angrily mouthing at someone out of sight, before getting back into the song.

In another video posted to TikTok by user terriem89, several members of Brown’s crew rush onstage with a ladder to assist him in coming down from his harness. 

In the clip, Brown steps onto the ladder while unhooking himself from the harness and jumps down to the stage to finish performing his song. The entire exchange was a little over two minutes long. Once he was back on the ground, Brown can be seen heatedly exchanging words with one of the tour workers who helped bring the ladder over before he picks up from where he left off, finishing the track to cheers and applause from the crowd.

Thoughts on Brown’s predicament were mixed, especially taking his reaction into account. 

“He has every right to be mad it could have been dangerous,” an X (formerly Twitter) user wrote. “No one bothered to get him while he was stuck for 3 songs, until he signalled to them & then when they came to get him they went in circles with the ladder twice before actually getting him. Yet he didn’t miss a note!”

“Oh let’s leave him there it’s what the universe wants,” another user commented.

The GRAMMY winner kicked off his 11:11 Tour on June 5 in Detroit. He’ll play two nights at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and wrap the tour with two shows at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Aug. 6-7.

Brown has been laying low since reportedly getting into a heated argument with Usher that allegedly turned violent last May. 

In May 2023, TMZ published a video purporting to show the war of words between the singers that led to the alleged violent encounter, resulting in the “U Got It Bad” singer ending up with a bloody nose and bruised ribs. ET reached out to reps for Brown and Usher for comment at the time.

The outlet reported, citing the video and witnesses at the event, that Brown had approached Teyana Taylor and became miffed when she ignored him. It’s reported that Brown, who was celebrating his 34th birthday Friday night at Skate Rock City in Las Vegas, wanted Taylor thrown out of the party, but Usher intervened in her defense, and that’s when things went south.

According to the outlet, Brown started cursing out Taylor before directing his anger at Usher. TMZ went on to report, citing sources, that Brown and his crew left the skating rink, only for Usher to follow in pursuit. The outlet went on to report that, after going behind a string of charter buses, Usher emerged a short time later with a bloody nose.

What’s more, B.Scott reported that Usher also suffered bruised ribs. TMZ would later confirm B. Scott’s reporting that drama between Brown and Taylor stemmed from Brown’s AMAs performance — which included a Michael Jackson tribute — getting scrapped at the last minute last year. So, where does Taylor fit in all of this? TMZ reported Brown went after her because she was involved in the planning of that performance “but something went awry before the day of” the performance. 

At the time, a Dick Clark Productions spokesperson clarified to ET that the tribute being pulled was a matter of creative direction and no fault of Brown’s.

“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,” the statement read. 

A source later told ET, “Ciara was confirmed to perform with Chris as part of the Michael Jackson tribute. No reason was given as to why it was pulled.”

The alleged altercation is joins the list of incidences that have plagued Brown for years, including his multiple arrests for assault, and allegations of domestic violence and rape.

After he was sentenced to five years probation for assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, he made headlines in 2011 after breaking a window and leaving the Good Morning America set when Robin Roberts asked him about the domestic violence. 

In 2013, he allegedly got into a physical altercation with singer Frank Ocean, reportedly calling him gay slurs and threatening to shoot the people he was with. Soon after that, Brown was arrested and charged with felony assault after getting into an argument with a man in front of the W Hotel and allegedly punching the man in the face. 

In 2016, a woman accused Brown of threatening her with a gun inside his house, but he was not convicted.

In 2017, Karrueche Tran was granted a five-year restraining order against Brown, alleging that the singer had threatened her and demanded that she return items he had gifted her. In court papers obtained by ET at the time, Tran claimed Brown threatened to kill her and that he physically abused her while the two were dating.

The documents also stated that Tran claimed that Brown told “a few people” that he was going to kill her and that he punched her in her stomach twice “years ago” and pushed her down the stairs.

“He said if no one else can have me, then he’s gonna ‘take me out,'” she claimed. “I have text messages from December 2016 to January 2017, where he’s made several threats, including beating me up and making my life hell.”

Despite the various accusations and allegations — which have followed Brown as recently as the last three years in which he’s been accused of rape and battery — the artist has still maintained an active fan base and praise from the music industry. 

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