Chris Brown arrives at London court on July 24, 2026. Courtesy of Getty Chris Brown delivered divergent statements to Texas state Rep. Venton Jones and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, the two Texas Democrats who honored him and Usher at the Arlington stop on their co-headlining tour, as controversy swirls around the polarizing pop star’s official recognition by the two lawmakers.
On Sept. 12, Crockett took to the stage during Brown and Usher’s stop on The R&B Tour at AT&T Stadium and announced that, for the multi-platinum singer’s separate contributions to music, both artists were being recognized in the Congressional Record. State Rep. Jones was also on stage at the concert to join Crockett in the presentation and presented Brown a separate legislative recognition. The decision lit up a major controversy online, with liberal Texas Democrats’ reaction to Crockett ranging from deeply confused as to why she honored a well-known domestic abuser to red-hot rage at a decision many found to be an embarrassment.
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“We are experiencing Black joy to the highest level,” Crockett said at the concert. “And I wanted to make sure we document that at the congressional level. So let’s give it up again for Chris Brown.”
Crockett has not made a public statement this week regarding the event at AT&T Stadium. But speculation has run wild as to why a lawmaker known for taking President Trump to task and equating him to an abusive partner while advocating for abortion access and diversity, equity and inclusion would go out of her way to sing the praises of someone so associated with violence against women. A New York magazine article on Friday floated several potential explanations for her reasoning, from drumming up voter support before the midterms to her eye for a post-politics career as a celebrity.
Brown opted to stir the pot of controversy on social media as the growing backlash against the two lawmakers brought his name into headlines this week — inevitably dredging up his dark history of domestic abuse and legal issues that still plague the hitmaker. On his Instagram page, Brown thanked Crockett but laid into Jones after Jones, in an appearance on Don Lemon’s show, apologized to domestic violence survivors and reframed the concert appearance as having been about voter mobilization ahead of the midterms — a framing Brown suggested contradicted what happened onstage, where the midterms went unmentioned.
“Thank you so much,” Brown wrote to Crockett. “I apologize for any backlash you have to deal with for awarding me. I’m not political but I move off of frequency and energy and I’m so grateful. ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU.”
“I don’t want the award anymore my brother,” he wrote to Jones. “You went on with Don Lemon and started tap dancing for them folk. Y’all keep that st.“ On a now-deleted Instagram Story, he continued, writing, “Funny thing is… Y’ALL CAME TO ME WITH THIS! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. I was minding my damn business. My shows in Dallas were already sold out. I ain’t [want] to be honored because I knew some st like this would happen…”
Brown was probably correct to predict the political blowback. His track record of legal trouble has dotted his entire adult life. His first foray into the court system and the court of public opinion came in 2009, when he pleaded guilty to the felony assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna, an incident that occurred when he was still a teenager. His string of legal woes has not definitively concluded since then; a case stemming from a 2023 incident at a London nightclub saw the singer take a plea in late July so prosecutors would drop charges of assault, attempted grievous bodily harm, and a weapons charge. Brown is currently awaiting sentencing in the case.
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