Chris Brown claims AMAs canceled his tribute to Michael Jackson
Beat it Chris Brown.
The “Loyal” singer claims the team behind Sunday’s American Music Awards canceled his tribute to Michael Jackson at the last minute.
The “Look at Me Now” rapper took to Instagram on Saturday to spread his grievances, posting a seven-minute rehearsal clip showing his crew of dancers practicing some serious moves.
Beginning with the track “Under the Influence,” the performance moves into Jackson’s “Beat It,” where Brown and his dancers pull off a megahit move. They even incorporated some of Jackson’s iconic choreography into their renditions of other hits like “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” “Billie Jean,” and “Thriller.”
The 40th anniversary of the “Thriller” album is this month. Officials from the ABC network, which airs the AMAs Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment.
“Are you serious?” Dressed in a green silky outfit, Brown captioned his rehearsal clip along with the face-palm emoji.
“WOULD have been the ama performance but they canceled me for unknown reasons,” the 33-year-old artist continued in the comments.
Brown has been compared to Jackson in the past but insists the comparisons are “limiting”.
“There’s no competition with him,” Brown said in an interview with Big Boy. “No way. I put up shrines of this man in my house. Hell, I’m no better than Michael Jackson.”
Fans quickly sided with the singer in the Instagram comments. People said it was “sick” that it was canceled and expressed their condolences.
“You were so excited!” wrote Taylor Terry, who was touring with Brown. “The entire team on and off the floor was thrilled!!! Never leave a rehearsal without chills!”
“The fact that they canceled and you STILL gave us that AMAZING performance just goes to show what a great artist you are,” agreed another user. “That was GOLD.”
“That would have literally been the performance of the year,” wrote another.
Brown’s AMA claims come a week after the release of portions of a memoir Aaron Carter reportedly co-wrote. The late pop star claimed he had an awkward underwear encounter with Jackson when he was a teenager at his Neverland ranch. Carter’s memoir was suspended this week due to backlash from people close to him. Jackson died in 2009.
While Brown isn’t sure why the AMAs allegedly scrapped his performance, his troubled past could be to blame. TMZ speculated that his decades-long feud with R&B superstar Rihanna could be the reason for the snub.
In 2009, then 19-year-old Brown was arrested for hitting his former flame, then 20. He later pleaded guilty to one count of assault.
Brown hasn’t stayed out of the headlines since then. Last year he was accused of hitting a woman during an argument at his Los Angeles home. Earlier this year, he was sued for allegedly drugging and raping a woman in Miami in 2020.
In a bid to clear his name on sexual assault allegations, the Grammy winner claimed the allegations were “upper bounds,” and said in an Instagram story he’s done with people “pulling me through the mud.”
He followed up with screenshots of messages between him and his accuser, which allegedly showed she was trying to develop a relationship with the singer even after the reported incident.
Despite his self-proclaimed innocence, A-listers who befriend Brown often receive online flak.
Earlier this year, R&B singer Normani, 26, was slammed by fans for appearing in Brown’s music video for “WE (Warm Embrace).” In the clip, she can be seen rubbing up against the singer and even sharing a kiss.
Normani fans responded, criticizing the young star for associating himself with Brown.
“I know why the new R&B girls feel the need to work with him,” said one user grumbled in a tweetwhich led to thousands of retweets at the time.
“Ella Mai, YOU, Chlöe, now Normani. It’s disappointing. I can’t even say I get it because he’s repeated his behavior towards women, throwing black women out of clubs he’s in and has been doing the same song since 2012.”
https://nypost.com/2022/11/19/chris-brown-claims-amas-canceled-his-michael-jackson-tribute/ Chris Brown claims AMAs canceled his tribute to Michael Jackson
