AMAs Spokesperson Clears The Air About Chris Brown's Performance Cancelation

The organizers of the American Music Awards (also known simply as the AMAs) are clearing the air regarding Chris Brown's absence from the 2022 awards ceremony. Brown was reportedly supposed to perform a tribute to the late Michael Jackson during the show, but it was abruptly canceled, angering Brown's fans. As reported by TMZ, Brown himself was upset with the decision to cut the performance. He also claimed that he was given no explanation for why his tribute to Jackson was removed from the schedule. Instead, he shared a clip from his rehearsals on Instagram with the telling caption, "U SERIOUS?"

There was speculation from one Twitter user that Brown's performance was canceled because Karrueche Tran was presenting at the AMAs. Tran, who was previously in a relationship with Brown, has a restraining order against him that was granted to her in 2017. At the time, Tran gave a sworn statement in court that the singer threatened to kill her and also threatened her friends. 

After the outrage from Brown and his fans, the production company behind the AMAS released an official statement concerning the decision.

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A spokesperson has addressed the controversy

The production company responsible for putting on the American Music Awards, Dick Clark Productions, has addressed Chris Brown's comments on his planned tribute to Michael Jackson, according to Entertainment Tonight. "Live shows change all the time; it's the nature of this business," a spokesperson shared in a statement. "Unfortunately, this element of the AMAs didn't come together as we couldn't align on the performance, to no fault of Chris Brown."

Singer Ciara hinted with an Instagram post of her own that she was supposed to perform alongside Brown for the tribute, which was then confirmed to ET by an unnamed source.

Though Brown did not attend the AMAs following the cancelation of his performance, he went on to win the award for favorite male R&B artist. Singer Kelly Rowland accepted the award on his behalf, defending Brown against the crowd's boos. "Excuse me, chill out," she said to the rowdy audience before continuing. "I want to tell Chris, thank you so much for making great R&B music. And I wanna tell him, thank you for being an incredible performer."