Chris Brown Performed Michael Jackson tribute on BET Awards ... before breaking down
*It was a night of comebacks at the BET Awards, and none more unexpected than Chris Brown performing an emotional tribute to Michael Jackson.
The embattled pop star has mostly kept a low profile since pleading guilty to felony assault for beating up Rihanna in February 2009. But here he was, center stage, mimicking Jackson’s signature dance moves with almost eerie accuracy. Introduced by Jermaine Jackson, Brown embodied the King of Pop, wearing his fedora and spangled glove and moonwalking across the stage to “Billie Jean.”
Then, as Brown grabbed a microphone to sing “Man in the Mirror,” he broke down in tears. His voice cracked, he couldn’t sing, and at one point he crumpled to the stage in apparent agony. It was a moving moment made even more so by the song’s lyrics and Brown’s recent past.
The 21-year-old returned to the stage later in the show when he won the AOL “fandemonium award.”
“I let you all down before, but I won’t do it again. I promise you,” he said.
Sunday’s ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium began with a comeback: Kanye West opened the show atop a volcano onstage in his first TV appearance since dissing Taylor Swift at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
T.I. also made a triumphant return to television in his first TV performance since being released from prison in December. Backed by Travis Barker on drums, T.I. performed “Yeah Ya Know,” and later returned to the stage to sing “Hello, Good Morning” with Diddy-Dirty Money, Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj, who won for female hip-hop artist.
Read the FULL report on the awards HERE.
Watch Chris Brown’s performance and breakdown here:
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1) WHAT did Monica have on? 2) WHAT did Keisha Cole have on? 3) Was the bald woman beside Prince India.Arie? 4) Was John Legend’s date a White girl?
Answers:
1)I don’t know. 2)I’m not sure. 3) I doubt it. 4) Probably mixed.
1) irrelevant 2) irrelevant 3)probly not 4) Why’s that matter?
I saw Chris’s performance – it was awesome – this was probably the best applause he has had in a loooong time! Everybody saying it was a great PR move, if it was, it worked. Rhiana always said that despite getting beat up, Chris was a great performer, and that she wished him well.
Chris blew me away… I felt like I was watching MJ reincarnated. Kinda scary at times, but totally AWESOME!
fake azz yellow boy wont crying. nucca sit ya azz down. i aint buying it.
I must co-sign with Huey. How DARE that “fake azz yellow boy” take a song WRITTEN BY THE KING and turn it into a personal ode to himSELF!?!!?? He was doing a half-assed-half-baked tribute to Michael Jackson that was passing, UNTIL HE STARTED THE FAKE-ASSED CRYING!!!!!!!!
Do your thumbs downs, but it will NOT change my opinion.
Actually “Man in the Mirror” was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard.
M.J. wrote most of the songs on the album with the exception of a couple, and “Man in the Mirror” was one of the songs that he did not write.
Thanks Smitdawg. I also pointed that out in a response that is still “awaiting moderation” (?), lol. I also wrote some other stuff in response to your [what I feel is unfair] criticism Grace_1234, but oh well…
Thanks, Smitdawg. It’s true that Michael Jackson did not write the song, but that is still no EXCUSE for Chris Brown’s phony behavior while paying tribute to The King of Pop. He should’ve been crying AFTER he practically destroyed Rhianna’s face, instead of appearing in a neon blue sweater and bow tie on the Larry King Show.
Please spare me that “the enormity of what he did really didn’t hit him until he was singing ‘Man in the Mirror’” at the BET Awards. The enormity should have hit him when the photographs of Rhinanna’s face were released. The enormity should have hit him when he found himself practically working on a chain gang. And, finally, the enormity should have hit him when he found himself a client of the ambulance-chasing Mark Geragos.
this article says that chris brown has kept a low profile, that is so not true but anyway he did an excellent job last night for the michael jackson tribute……the crying was overkill to me & kinda annoyed the sh*t outta me but otherwise he was great. they couldn’t have picked a better person to do the tribute.
I don’t agree with what he did but its not for me to judge and honestly,I am more appalled at these so called GOD fearing people who have condemned him to HELL and have shown zero forgiveness to a young man who with proper guidance CAN change,He will likely walk thru heavens gates before any of ya’ll if he is repentant. The media and even Oprah (who banned C.B. but not Mike Tyson, Naomi Campbell,Wesley Snipes ??)has unfairly crucified him more harshly than his peers…I don’t see folks boycotting these “stars” who have all been accused of “allegedly” abusing their significant others or in some cases children;R. Kelly, Michael Jackson;Courtney Love;Ike Turner; Naomi Campbell;Jason Kidd; David Ruffin;golfer John Daly; El Debarge;Kelly Bensimon(Real Housewives of NY);Joe Budden; Aaron Hall;Bishop Thomas Weeks;Sugar Ray Leonard;Dr. Dre;Wesley Snipes;Darryl Strawberry;Ron Artest (LA Laker);Mel Gibson; Humphrey Bogart; Bobby Brown ; Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott, ;Liza Mineli & David Gest; Christian Slater; Miles Davis alleged abused Cicely Tyson;James Brown; B2K member J Boog;Charlie Sheen;Gary Coleman & Shannon Price ; former CSI actor Jonathan Togo and Gary Dourdan; Tom Sizemore convicted of assaulting Heidi Fleiss; Ultimate fighting champ Tito Ortiz arrested for assaulting GF Jenna Jameson; Corey Dillon (4x pro RB);Evel Knievel; Tracy Lawrence (country music singer); David Hasselhoff ; Rolling stone member Rockie Wood ;Warren Sapp; Bebe Winans;after reading this snippet of just a few examples many of these folks still have careers, are still celebrated regardless of issues in their personal lives & alot of these alleged abusers were alot older than Chris Brown,Chris Brown should not be held to a higher degree of accountability than any of these older men & women, I mean lets be for real, not one of us is without some sort of sin or stain the only difference is our lives aren’t constantly taped & photographed.Forgiving a man doesn’t promote the act of what he did it promotes change, if people are never forgiven for anything they do then why would they want to change.
A?….Fkn maaaaaaaan! I’ve posted THE SAME THING on this subject & mo fo’s “act like” dey don t hear it! But those?…are jusr ignant, in DEnial…haters!!! Glad to see SOMEbody else has some honesty,objectivity & …common sense!!! And I wonder when> (if EVER!!) peeps are gonna address WTH SHE did to “set it off” in the 1st place!! IN NO WAY condoning what C.B. did but<!!! and I salute you!!!!
Chris Brown tears = Real
Drake hip hop? = FAKE
oh wow… I thought I was the only one who thought this.
cosign lorraine315. not only that drake is fake he is BORING and bores the HELL out of me.
I kept asking my young pre-teen sons: “Now, explain it to me again …who is this Drake character ???”
Drake coulda stayed home in my opinion. I still don’t get dude. I know 5 brothers on Lenox Ave who raps with more passion and conviction!! WTF???
Dang. I wish I had gotten to see it. As someone who saw Chris Brown perform live at Essence Fest in 07, I know the boy is bad, can perform his azz off. Have no doubt he did MJ justice. (Side note, I was at a concert in Atl Sat night and DJ Nabs did an AWESOME tribute to MJ, I almost broke down. Sooo many people loved MJ.) Anyway, when reading this article and seeing that CBrown is only 21 years old (!), you realize how unconscionable it is to think this dude’s life should be over because of one incident! How crazy is it to think someone’s livelihood should be taken away forever based on something he did at what 19, 20?! And to think that a lot of people who condemn him are probably guilty of similar or worse. The hypocrisy is palpable. He will never be a role model or anything like that, but at least let that man live. Geez, enough already! Jmo
It’s BET. That stands for Broadcast Eighty Times! You’ll have other chances to see it!!
yes you WILL get a chance to see it, tgen.it repeats on tue @ seven pm if you live on the east coast.
TGen, my point exactly, he paid for what he did, so be done with the shit already. Like beating a dead horse to get up!! WTF??
Yep Yep!! Fo shooooooe lady! Like…just how long does someone have to pay!?? These fake as-s “CHRISTIANS” sound like the damn “judicial system” when it comes to “paying for your mistakes”! Mo fo’s go to jail?, get out? and STILL can t get hired! Then? mo fo’s “wonder whyyy” they end up…going right back in!! These fakes make peole wanna STAY AWAY FROM….church! And like how many of these fakes never did ANYthing…wrong!?? NONE!! everyone has done SOMEthing!! So haters?..let dude “live” and…”get a fkn life” away from hating!!!”Chuuuch!”!
I missed Chris’s performance because quite frankly, there were only a few stellar moments at last night’s BET awards, so I did a lot of channel surfing. However, I do want to say that (1) if Chris broke down, well you all know that we are an emotional people and wear our feelings on our sleeves; and (2) it’s about time we as a people, gave Chris a second chance. While I abhor domestic violence, I also abhor the mistreatment of animals, but after a while, even I forgave Michael Vick. As an aside, I did catch El DeBarge, and he was absolutely awesome. I also liked Kanye’s opening number. (Huey, I’m surprised you didn’t speak on how good the sisters looked, they were banging.) Yes, Legend was with a yt gurl, which surprised me because of his commitment to Africa. However, I won’t dwell on it because quite frankly I don’t care anymore. Have all the non-Black women you want, but don’t put us down to justify it! BLACK MEN, BLACK WOMEN ARE NOT THE ENEMY!
we as a people don’t have to give chris a second chance, his fans need to give him a second chance. if someone wasn’t a fan of his before the incident, are they supposed to make themselves be a fan? i think chris is very talented but i wasn’t a fan of his before because his music isn’t directed towards my demographic.
I hear you talking. I was never a fan of Chris’s because there are so many rappers out here, I don’t have that much time in 24 hours. However, if his fans are willing to give him a second chance, as a person, and more importantly a Black woman, so am I. Snicker, we all make mistakes. Fortunately, unlike ‘celebrities’ we are not under a microscope, therefore, our transgressions are not put out there for the world to see. This young man is 21, he didn’t kill anyone. Others, both Black and yt have committed much more abhorent deeds, yet they’ve been forgiven and given a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc., etc., chance. That’s all I’m saying.
actually i don’t think his career should be over either but it’s not up to me to revive it because i never brought his music anyway & i’m not going to start now just to revive someone’s career that i never gave a second thought to before. i never said he shouldn’t get a second chance, of course he should but i can’t make people buy his music or support him. honestly even now after that incident, i still don’t give him or rihanna a second thought because i never did before any of it happened. the only time i even comment on either one of them is if their name is brought up otherwise they never ever ever cross my mind.
I didn’t mind Chris Brown. He deserves a second chance. I had just said to my sister that Chris Brown seems to have been forgotten and maybe he should stay away for awhile and there he was. He did a good job. I think John Legend’s girlfriend is biracial, not that it matters to me. Note to Whitney Houston: That’s how you make a comeback! El Debarge looked great and sounded even better!
While I did ntoa pprove of what Chris did to Rihanna, he does deserve a break. If Rihanna has forgiven him then let’s move on. Some people act like he hit them or something. He was very good last night. I am not a fan but, I seen him a couple of years ago at the MTV video awards and his performance was great. He has alot of energy and I enjoy energetic performances. The tribute to Michael was SO MUCH! better than last year’s debacle. A much better show this time around.
Yes Chris deserves a second chance at his career. Of course domestic violence is horrible BUT in terms of the entertainment biz the industry has forgiven many accused of that crime. Is because they were white? Sean Penn beat Madonna when they were married. Drummer Tommy Lee spent 6 months in jail for beating Pamela Anderson Lee- he was at the BET awards last night and no one is talking about his domestic abuse past. Oh yeah another woman beater also at the awards show last night El Debarge
I’ve never seen a meltdown like that on t.v. before. I was shocked.
why my comments hidden…whats with this thumb down crap? why i cant say wtf i wants to say in here. i dont like this forum. where the rest of my hating cohorts? is this why they left eur?
I co-sign Huey. Censorship because someone’s opinion differs from yours, EUR?? That smacks of all SORTS of things, but that’s okay. I have my OWN celebrity blog that I’ll be unveiling later this week. I put Chris Brown’s PHONY ass on BLAST in there this morning. I’ll be welcoming EVERYBODY’s opinion. Remember: Opinions are like assholes. EVERYBODY’S GOT ONE!!! LOL!
Is this why you come here? To grift some of the articles for your soon-to-be “celebrity” blog?! You’ll be no better than other folks who have their own celebrity blog. Then you & huey can hate to oblivion! smdh
No, I’ve been coming here for two years BECAUSE I CAN.
Huey u made me lmao till my stomach was hurting!!(crying-laughing) I don’t like this new format either………….
thumbs up or thumbs down
People are just hating on your hatration. No prob. But I’m glad to see the right performer finally getting the chance to do a tribute to MJ. As far as dancing, CB has rightfully accepted the reins from Usher.
I was just talking last night with someone about Chris Brown. And one of the things that we commented on was the fact that he never “left” for a hiatus after the Rihanna beatdown.
Now, just imagine what the headlines could have been if he’d done the following:
1. Released a “written” statement expressing his deep sorrow to Rihanna for what he did.
2. NOT go on TV talk shows.
3. NOT released an album shortly after the incident.
4. Worked in battered women’s shelters for the past year or so after the incident. Stayed gone for the year.
5. Gotten psychological help in earnest.
6. AND used THIS event/tribute to MJJ as his officially “coming out, I’m back in the game” appearance.
I’m here to say that the forgiving public would have EASILY forgiven this dude. But whoever advised him or coddled him or failed to take him aside and really educate this fool allowed him to remain in the public limelight messing all chances of him ingratiating himself back to stardom.
And sadly, whether he’s really sorry or not or even whether his talent is one of a kind, I suspect that most people (including me) won’t be able to get past the fact that this boy beat up a woman beyond recognition, including biting her. Blame the idiots who advised this boy on dealing with grown folks thing. SMDH.
I agree with you Exmun but, Rihann should of taken tim for herself too. She needs therapy, counseling etc just like Chris. She is not off the hook either as far as I am concerned. She went back to him. i would of never go involved with Diddy offering his Miami condo for that little meeting etc.A female should never go back to the man who beat her period. i could not believe she did that and I no longer felt sorry for her. She would of still been with him if her handlers had not told her it could affect her career. Their respective record labels and management only care about the money anyway, which is why they both released CD’s so soon afterward.
I totally agree with how you said Chris Brown should have handled this whole situation. Maybe you should become his PR person LOL!!
Snicker,
A lot of that stuff was just common sense. I think in both he and Rihanna’s case, it was a case of the inmates running the asylum. It’s like no one around him noticed the gravity of him beating a woman practically beyond recognition. Like they didn’t get the gravity of the animalistic and sociopathic way that he beat that girl. Damn fools I tell you.
But he and his people are just the tip of the iceberg. WTH was his record label Jive/Zomba thinking? What sane record label would release an artist’s album in a firestorm like that when they had no obligation to release it at that time or at all? WTH were they thinking?
He should have gotten gone and stayed gone. Not too long for the public to forget him, but long enough for us to have moved on from this incident. It’s sad that no one around him saw it like this.
I totally co-sign Exmun. It seems that what Chris REALLY needed was “The Motown Machine” from back-in-the-day.
Out of all the female celebrities who have been ticked off in this discussion as having been “beaten up,” how many had THEIR BLOODIED, BATTERED PHOTOS IN THE PRESS??
I have to wonder at people who have seen those photos, know she was BITTEN and are raging, “Oh, let’s get past that. Let’s give him a second chance. He’ll enter the pearly gates before you will because he’s sorry,” etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam.
There was never any “cooling off” period.” He was always THERE in the public consciousness.
Grace,
Every word you just said was true. We have not SEEN the evidence of some of these celeb’s handiwork. I didn’t see the R Kelly vid, but I did see some of the stills and it was clearly him and that sickened me to death that he would be sexing a teenager, and a young teen at that and PEED on the child. After that I vowed not to support that cretin in any way.
But some of these apologists are using the “others” as a red herring. We’re not talking about the others. We’re talking about Chris Brown. And to that end, he was never “gone for a while.” He always continued in the public limelight as if he actually believe that old stage saying that no press is bad press.
Nig, when you beat, scratch, punch and BIT a young woman the way you did Bad Press is Bad Press. Own it and get the hell away for a while already.
I don’t agree with what he did but its not for me to judge and honestly,I am more appalled at these so called GOD fearing people who have condemned him to HELL and have shown zero forgiveness to a young man who with proper guidance CAN change,He will likely walk thru heavens gates before any of ya’ll if he is repentant. The media and even Oprah (who banned C.B. but not Mike Tyson, Naomi Campbell,Wesley Snipes ??)has unfairly crucified him more harshly than his peers…I don’t see folks boycotting these “stars” who have all been accused of “allegedly” abusing their significant others or in some cases children;R. Kelly, Michael Jackson;Courtney Love;Ike Turner; Naomi Campbell;Jason Kidd; David Ruffin;golfer John Daly; El Debarge;Kelly Bensimon(Real Housewives of NY);Joe Budden; Aaron Hall;Bishop Thomas Weeks;Sugar Ray Leonard;Dr. Dre;Wesley Snipes;Darryl Strawberry;Ron Artest (LA Laker);Mel Gibson; Humphrey Bogart; Bobby Brown ; Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott, ;Liza Mineli & David Gest; Christian Slater; Miles Davis alleged abused Cicely Tyson;James Brown; B2K member J Boog;Charlie Sheen;Gary Coleman & Shannon Price ; former CSI actor Jonathan Togo and Gary Dourdan; Tom Sizemore convicted of assaulting Heidi Fleiss; Ultimate fighting champ Tito Ortiz arrested for assaulting GF Jenna Jameson; Corey Dillon (4x pro RB);Evel Knievel; Tracy Lawrence (country music singer); David Hasselhoff ; Rolling stone member Rockie Wood ;Warren Sapp; Bebe Winans;after reading this snippet of just a few examples many of these folks still have careers, are still celebrated regardless of issues in their personal lives & alot of these alleged abusers were alot older than Chris Brown,Chris Brown should not be held to a higher degree of accountability than any of these older men & women, I mean lets be for real, not one of us is without some sort of sin or stain the only difference is our lives aren’t constantly taped & photographed.Forgiving a man doesnt promote the act of what he did it promotes change, if people are never forgiven for anything they do then why would they want to change.
Excellent post Keepingit100. You really did keep it all the way 100! lol It’s one thing to condemn someone for something he’s done in his personal life. This society does it all the time. But to deprive the person of his livelihood? What is THAT about? I mean, I can think of a few folks right now who I think are low-down dirty adulterers and homewreckers, but it never occurred to me that he/she should be banned from making a living! That’s just taking it way too far.
Damn Keepingit100,
When does acknowledging a person did a very very bad thing that will stain our memory for probably a long time if not forever become condemning someone to hell? SMDH First of all, Chris Brown PLED GUILTY to the charges. These weren’t just “allegations.” Second his media whoring after the incident pretty much lost all chances he had of earning back public trust.
If you acknowledge that the public can decide not to “promote” him even if we (as you say) “forgive” him, why can’t his lack of public support simply be us deciding not to “promote” him?
He doesn’t owe me an apology. He beat up Rihanna. What he wants from the public is our money and that comes with the price of true contrition.
chris, if you think man in the mirror would win riri back,think again, your ex has MOVED ON!
If Rihanna can show all her ass to the world, I don’t see why Chris has to be crucified. Like they crucified Michael and it was all a lie, now we don’t have him because of it. He tried to numb the pain. Breezy killed it!! I’m glad for the brother, it was a fitting tribute to his mentor, so much so he couldn’t finish the song. It was too much. He left his heart in that pavilion.
Co-sign Mothership. “He left his heart in that pavilion.” That’s powerful.
I think he did great at the beginning and bombed at the end. No where did I feel that he was crying about MJ, only his failed record sales and fame. That is a turn off. He could have really wowed us by showing off his vocal chops on Man in the mirror, then he just cried through the whole thing. Immaturity again. Rihanna is not crying through songs, why is he. The sympathy role will never work with Oprah against you. He needs to go to the studio and make some good music, stop singing about changed man, and sorry he broke some girl’s heart. But to be honest, its no room for the Usher clone. Usher divorced his bag lady and has reclaimed his position. Chris took over, when the media fell out of love with Usher. Now its reversed. I think Chris just needs to disappear for a while until the market demands him again. Right now, it aint happening and no MJ performance is going to change that.
He didn’t break “some girl’s heart.” He broke some girl’s FACE!
DAMN! My nigga huey got TWENTY thumbs down! 20! That’s crazy. LMAO!
I think huey and Grace 12_34 are goin’ for the all-time record.
Testic….I tried to help ‘em out by given ‘em a couple thumbs up. That shit didn’t do no good! They tearin’ dat ass up!!!
LMAO!
I think Chris needs to fire his PR people. Chris caused all of this on himself. Robin and Larry King, Wendy Williams all gave him an opportunity to share his side of what happened that night. Rihanna let it all out. His response I am not going to comment. Well I had no choice but to believe Rihanna’s story that he flipped the he11 out. Then all of this crying and apologizing and begging people to buy his album. His song choices. But still he has got to make a good song. We all like a good song, look at RKelly’s sales after his molestation trials. BUt I think CB has a bigger problem because of Jay Z. Jay Z< Bey, Rihanna who obiviously wasnt there at the awards because of CB performance has a complete blackball on him. I dont know how powerful they are, but I think that inside the industry will be his problem. Jay Z aint going to ever forgive him for Rih's beating.
But if Jay does have a blackball on Chris, he may want to let him. Because his boy Kanye is still on the YT hate list. We all know he made mad sales because of them with all this techno music his making. Sorry but his performance last night, was horrible. What crowd is Kanye appealing to. It is just us blacks supporting you right now bruh. So keep it real.
Ok…why does inter-racial dating only “get questioned”/bother peeps when a Black “man” is does it!!?? WTF is “that” shyt about!!??? Like…yo “cultural interest” is….gender bias!??? GTFOOH!!See?, dat’s some fake as-s,in denial,hater shyt fo yo aaaaaaaas-s, right thurr, fa sho!!!!! If you reeeeeeally care about our race/culture?, how about a lil…”consistancy”!Otherwise?…STFUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!
CHris Brown MURRRRRRRDERED THAT SHYT!!! and all yall lonely “ain’t gottah man hating as-ses” KNOW dat shyt! One should be able to separate & forgive! But yall?…cain’t! And it s “that” kind of “lack of forgiveness” along with OTHER issues, that make those that do?….go to the “Vanilla” part of town, for luuuuuv/companionship!! But yall keep up the….”Black Love”, ARGE!!!!
Damn!
Huey, and Lorraine win the “Thumbs-Down” Award.
I wish that EUR would remove that feature; since it is pretty easy for some outraged poster to get around the single post per comment.
Have a Blessed Weekend & “Holiday” to All y’all. I’m out to Orlando.
Peace.
Guess they had to try and make up for that mess they pulled three days after the death…on which MTV promptly shitted.