-
R&B singer Chris Brown stands next to his attorney Mark Geragos pleads not guilty in the Los Angeles court to charges stemming from an alleged attack on his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna - Source: Reuters -
Related
R&B singer Chris Brown said he is "not a monster" in a video
message posted online this week ahead of a court hearing over a
criminal charge that he beat pop singer Rihanna, leaving her
bruised and bloodied.
Brown, who is not expected to attend the hearing set for Thursday
in Los Angeles Superior Court, does not mention Rihanna by name in
the video posted on the website
www.justin.tv and circulated online
on Wednesday.
But the 20-year-old singer of hits Kiss Kiss and Run It appears to
address the accusations that he beat his girlfriend Rihanna in
February while in a car in Los Angeles on the eve of the Grammy
awards.
"I just wanna say 'What up?' because I ain't been out there in a
minute," Brown said in the video, marking the only time he has
seemed publicly to address the incident beyond an initial statement
in February.
"Everybody that's haters, they just been haters. All my real fans,
I love you all. I ain't a monster," he said.
A representative for Rihanna, singer of hit songs such as
"Umbrella," was not immediately available to comment.
Brown is charged with assaulting Rihanna by "means of force likely
to produce great bodily injury" and threatening to commit a crime
"which would result in death and great bodily injury." He faces up
to four years in prison if convicted, and has previously pleaded
not guilty to the charge.
In February, one week after the incident, he issued a statement
saying "words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am
over what transpired." He added that he had sought
counseling.
At Thursday's hearing, Brown's attorney Mark Geragos is expected to
contest the charges on grounds that a police photo of Rihanna,
taken after she was beaten, should not have been leaked to the
media. It showed Rihanna with her eyes closed and her lower lip
bloodied and swollen.
