Kelly Rowland closed the crowd at the 2022 American Music Awards with applause Chris Brown. As the audience began to boo after Chris won Favorite Male R&B Artist, Kelly looked at them with four words and a warning finger.
“Chris Brown is not here tonight, so I’m accepting this award instead,” Kelly said after revealing the winner, before leading them off. “Sorry, chill out” in a noisy crowd.
Later, Rowland praised Brown’s contribution to R&B as the public reacted and the AMAs reportedly canceled his Michael Jackson tribute at the last minute. Chris won against nominees Brent Faiyaz, GIVĒON, Lucky Daye, and The Weeknd.
“But I want to say Chris, thank you for making great R&B music, and I want to thank him for doing so well. I’m going to take this award, and bring it to you,” Kelly said. “I love you. Congratulations and congratulations to all those who have been selected in this category.”
Brown Says AMAs Stopped Acting, Celebs React
50 days before the American Music Awards, Chris released a video of himself performing his song Under the Influence and several Michael Jackson classics like Defeat. In his words he wrote, “Are you serious?”
“It could have been what he did, but he blocked me for unknown reasons,” Chris wrote in the caption.
After the news broke, fans flooded the AMAs comment sections on Instagram—demanding answers to the ban. Meanwhile, industry friends like Tank, Jermaine Dupri, and The Game shared their thoughts on the election.
“Dear AMAs, good morning, we want to know why. We want to know. We want a reason. You hire our brother Chris Brown, you send him through rehearsals. He’s doing one of the best matches of all time, so you quit,” Tank said. “You pull the rug out from under him and all the people working around him, we want to know why we do it. You hired him. You told him to prepare, prepare. It’s time. So you quit, we want to know why.”
Jermaine Dupri said:
“So if the American Music Awards canceled Chris Brown, they canceled the 40th Anniversary Thriller, meaning that he withheld Michael Jackson’s tax. Black music we are in trouble. “
Chris Brown’s mom also posted a video of JD with the caption, “THOUGHTS? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WHO OR WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO REMOVE?
After the show, Game shared a message about Black artists marching in solidarity against decisions like the AMAs made.
“When they pulled.” [Chris Brown]The AMAs…al hip hip & R&B artists would say no…but we don’t belong and that’s why they keep us & use us, absorb culture & humiliate us in front of & behind our backs. our backs,” wrote Game.
The show’s production company responded to the cancellation
According to the reports of Park and Miscellaneous, A representative for the show’s production company said the change was not Brown’s fault.
“Live shows are always changing, it’s the nature of this business. Unfortunately, this part of the AMAs was not coordinated because we could not coordinate, without the problem of Chris Brown,” said Dick Clark Productions.
But, reports suggest that the honor was canceled due to the appearance of the singer and the honoree. Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna in 2009, and Jackson was acquitted of child molestation. Although the ABC network did not object to its performance, the integrated optics were said to have caused problems. According to Variety, Chris’s final television work was at the BET Awards 2017.
