Kelly Rowland Faces Backlash After Defending Chris Brown at AMAs
The crowd booed Chris Brown after Kelly Rowland announced he had won the Favorite Male R&B Artist at the American Music Awards Sunday night (Nov. 20).
Although the "With You" singer was not in attendance for the event, Brown beat out The Weeknd, Brent Faiyaz, Giveon and Lucky Daye.
When the audience booed the controversial artist's win, Rowland defended the singer — and later received backlash for it.
"Excuse me, chill out," she told the audience after announcing Brown's win.
"I wanna tell Chris thank you so much for making great R&B music. And I wanna tell him thank you for being an incredible performer. I'll take this award, bring it to you, I love you, congratulations," she continued, blowing a kiss to the crowd before exiting the stage.
Watch the moment, below:
On social media, fans were unimpressed with Rowland's defense of Brown, calling him "an abuser" and "discriminatory asshat."
"Kelly Rowland is a clown for defending Chris Brown," one fan tweeted.
"What the f--- is Chris brown doing still winning awards and why is Kelly Rowland up there thanking his ass wtf truly," another wrote.
Brown's award win comes shortly after controversy surrounding the singer's supposedly planned Michael Jackson tribute performance being canceled.
According to Variety, the performance was nixed just days before the show due to Brown's past. The R&B star assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna before the 2009 Grammys. He was arrested in later years for charges ranging from assault, violent threats and allegations of rape.
Brown posted about the cancellation on Instagram, writing, "U SERIOUS? WOULD'VE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown."
Karrueche Tran, who once dated Brown, appeared as a presenter during the AMAs. Tran was granted a restraining order against Brown in 2017 for threats of violence against her, according to CNN.
See more fan reactions to Rowland's defense of Brown, below:
Warning: Some tweets contain strong language.