Chris Brown Defends Photos of Him Grabbing Woman’s Neck as ‘Horseplay’

Rapper Chris Brown as been on the defensive ever since TMZ leaked photos of him from a party over the weekend wrapping his hands around a woman’s neck.

The photos were taken during the Ultra Fest music festival in Miami on Monday , though Brown said on Instagram Thursday evening that the interaction was just horseplay between friends.

“THANKS for all the publicity today,” Brown said. “Y’all know damn well I ain’t going down that road. Thiere is no need to even defend myself on this matter. Everyone that’s around me (girl/guy) are my HOMIES. NO FOUL PLAY. NO IGNORANT S—. END of discussion.”

Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, echoed his client’s statement in an interview with TMZ.

“She’s a friend. It’s obviously playful as she confirmed,” Gergaros said. “Whoever invaded their privacy will be held accountable.”

Brown is, unfortunately, not a stranger to violent acts against women. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to a felony assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna and was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community service.

Brown went into detail about his tumultuous relationship with the singer in his 2017 documentary Chris Brown: Welcome to My Life. During one segment he went into detail about how both he and Rihanna were violent to each other.

“She hated me. After that, I tried everything. She didn’t care, she just didn’t trust me after that. From there, it just went downhill because it would be fights, it would be verbal fights, physical fights as well,” Brown said.

“I still love Rihanna, but I’m just going to be honest — we would fight each other, she would hit me, I would hit her, but it never was OK,” he continued. “It was always a point to where we talk about it like, ‘What the f— are we doing?’”

The two briefly reunited in 2013 before splitting up for good.

Brown’s abuse towards Rihanna was inexplicably brought back up earlier this month by Snapchat, when an pop-up ad on the photo-sharing app asked users if they’d rather hit Brown or Rihanna. Despite taking down the ad and giving an apology, the company still received a public verbal lashing from Rihanna.

“Now Snapchat I know you already know you ain’t my fav app out there!” the singer wrote. “But I’m just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess! I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb! You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!!”