Chris Brown Responds to Charges of Illegally Keeping Pet Monkey

Singer Chris Brown is facing criminal charges over owning a pet monkey, but the singer is denying that the animal was his pet at all.

TMZ reported that the Los Angeles City Attorney is charging Brown with two counts of having a restricted species without a permit. The charges allege that the singer kept a capuchin monkey named Fiji at his Los Angeles home in 2017.

Prosecutors were reportedly interested in a now-deleted video Brown had posted of his now-4-year-old daughter Royalty playing with Fiji in December 2017.

“Royal, is this your baby?” Brown asks his daughter in the clip. “She’s gonna be bigger than you, man. Y’all got the same size head.”

Sources say Brown claims the video was taken in Las Vegas, not Los Angeles, and that Fiji was living with one of his relatives, who was the monkey’s owner. Sources add that Brown claims his relative was in town with Fiji “that particular week,” though authorities are reportedly skeptical about the singer’s claims.

Court documents filed on Dec. 10 and obtained by Us Weekly show that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched an investigation over the monkey’s residence at Brown’s home between October 2017 and January 2018.

The charges could potentially land Brown six months of jail time and a $1,000 fine.

TMZ reported that Brown did not have a permit for Fiji, resulting in authorities obtaining a search warrant for a planned raid on his home. Before the raid, Brown voluntarily agreed to surrender the monkey, who is now in custody in Los Angeles.

The Virginia native is due in court regarding the charges on Feb. 6.

This isn’t Brown’s first run-in with the law, as the 29-year-old has been arrested multiple times.

In 2009, he was arrested on charges of physical assault against then-girlfriend Rihanna and was later sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty.

In October 2013, he was arrested on felony assault charges after he was involved in an altercation with a man outside a hotel, though that charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.

He served reduced jail time in 2014 for violating his probation and was arrested again in 2016 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman accused him of pointing a gun in her face at his home. That charge was later dropped.

In July, Brown was arrested again in Florida, over an out-of-county warrant from 2017 for allegedly punching a photographer. He was released on bail and pled not guilty.

Photo Credit: Getty / Aaron J. Thornton