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Chris Brown Strikes Again: Reportedly Punches Photographer At Nightclub

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 17:32 PST, Apr 17, 2017

Chris Brown has once again found it hard to keep his temper under control. The singer, who famously pleaded guilty to a felony assault back in 2009 after attacking his now-ex-girlfriend Rihanna, is alleged to have sucker-punched a photographer at a Florida nightclub.

Billboard reported that Chris Brown was scheduled to appear a AJA Channelside, a nightclub in Tampa, Florida, for a paid appearance. The nightclub posted a teaser announcing the appearance yesterday.

https://www.facebook.com/ajachannelside/photos/a.387935958049.169613.45992948049/10155200004258050/

It is reported that at about 1 A.M. on Monday, Chris Brown and his entourage were in the middle of a set when the club’s in-house photographer started taking photos of the singer. The photographer, whose name has not yet been released, says that he was positioned behind Chris Brown, who was manning the DJ booth at the time, and started taking crowd shots.

When Brown noticed what the photographer was doing, he allegedly jumped over a couch and punched the photographer in the face. An unofficial video was reportedly taken and released on social media, but the video has since been taken down. Billboard reported that the video appears to show a person wearing red, believed to be Chris Brown, punching a person in a dark corner.

TMZ shared another video, taken from a different angle, which reportedly shows the incident. Chris Brown is thought to be the person in red, while his bodyguard is wearing yellow.

TMZ also published two photos showing the injuries sustained by the photographer, whose name has not yet been released.

The photographer says his lip was split open from the attack, and his jaw was “hurt.” At the time that TMZ published their report, the photographer was on his way to hospital and claimed that he intended to press charges against Chris Brown.

Billboard had slightly different information, reporting that the photographer was treated on site at the nightclub, and met with the police when they arrived, pressing charges for assault on the spot.

Billboard reported that they spoke with a partner of the club, who preferred not to release his name, who said that he had personally witnessed the entire incident.

“I was onstage with him [Chris Brown] and our photographer who was in the DJ booth behind the stage, and he was doing his job taking pictures when [Brown’s] security tried to grab him and then Chris punched him a couple times.”

The club partner revealed that Chris Brown was paid $30,000 in advance for a one-hour minimum appearance, but the “Grass Ain’t Greener” singer spent “about five minutes” in the club before the controversial incident broke out.

After the photographer was punched, the police were called but Chris Brown and his entourage had already left.

“They left the club right after… within two minutes.”

Given that Chris Brown potentially appeared for around seven minutes of a one-hour minimum gig, the club plans to get their money back. Plus, they say that there was no prior agreement that they couldn’t take photos of Chris Brown during the performance.

“Obviously we’re going to try to get our money back, but there was nowhere in the contract that said we couldn’t take pictures, that would be stupid for us. It makes no sense to book an artist for that much money and not take pictures.”

Gossip Cop largely confirmed the reports, adding that the performance at AJA Channelside came after a performance on his Party Tour at Amalie Arena.

However, Gossip Cop says that AJA Channelside were aware that Chris Brown didn’t consent to photos being taken, and agreed to go along with the request and to only take crowd shots. Apparently the incident unfolded when Chris Brown saw the photographer taking shots from behind the DJ area, supposedly convinced that the photographer was taking photos of him, not just the crowd.

Chris Brown has not made any mention of the incident on social media. Billboard attempted to get a comment from Brown’s representatives or legal team, but did not receive any response.

[Featured Image by Mychal Watts/Getty Images]

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