Jordin Sparks has joined the Kelly Rowland-led chorus of support for Chris Brown after the American Music Awards (AMAs) apparently scrapped his Michael Jackson tribute performance. They offered him the Favorite Male R&B Artist award as a consolation prize, and when he didn't attend, Rowland accepted the award on his behalf — and told the booing crowd to "chill out."
Your friendly neighbourhood paparazzi publication TMZ is back on the case, cornering Sparks — who collaborated with Brown on once-bop "No Air" in 2008, prior to the disgraced singer pleading guilty to the felony assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 — outside of ABC Studios in NYC. When asked how she felt about the AMAs situation, Sparks expressed her love for Brown and her belief that he should've been at the awards ceremony.
"People deserve to be able to grow and learn and be able to live their life without things hanging over them," the former American Idol winner said. "Everybody deserves that. Him especially."
"Honestly, I think that shouldn't even be a conversation anymore," Sparks continued of Brown's history of abuse. "It's about his talent."
She added, "They just shouldn't have cancelled the performance. That's how I feel about it."
A spokesperson from the AMAs production company issued a statement to ET earlier this week, writing, "Live shows change all the time, it's the nature of this business; unfortunately, this element of the AMAs didn't come together as we couldn't align on the performance, to no fault of Chris Brown."
Feminists have boycotted Brown, who has been accused of multiple additional assaults since his 2009 conviction, since photos of Rihanna's injuries went viral. He has famously not taken said boycotting well. (It also appears that the boycott is not all that widespread, since the AMAs are fan-voted awards.)
Yesterday (November 22), when likewise approached by TMZ, Rowland doubled down on her support for Brown. "We all need to be forgiven for anything that we could be doing. Anything that we're thinking," the former Destiny's Child member said. "We all come up short in some sort of way. And grace is real. And we are humans and everybody deserves grace. Period."
Your friendly neighbourhood paparazzi publication TMZ is back on the case, cornering Sparks — who collaborated with Brown on once-bop "No Air" in 2008, prior to the disgraced singer pleading guilty to the felony assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 — outside of ABC Studios in NYC. When asked how she felt about the AMAs situation, Sparks expressed her love for Brown and her belief that he should've been at the awards ceremony.
"People deserve to be able to grow and learn and be able to live their life without things hanging over them," the former American Idol winner said. "Everybody deserves that. Him especially."
"Honestly, I think that shouldn't even be a conversation anymore," Sparks continued of Brown's history of abuse. "It's about his talent."
She added, "They just shouldn't have cancelled the performance. That's how I feel about it."
A spokesperson from the AMAs production company issued a statement to ET earlier this week, writing, "Live shows change all the time, it's the nature of this business; unfortunately, this element of the AMAs didn't come together as we couldn't align on the performance, to no fault of Chris Brown."
Feminists have boycotted Brown, who has been accused of multiple additional assaults since his 2009 conviction, since photos of Rihanna's injuries went viral. He has famously not taken said boycotting well. (It also appears that the boycott is not all that widespread, since the AMAs are fan-voted awards.)
Yesterday (November 22), when likewise approached by TMZ, Rowland doubled down on her support for Brown. "We all need to be forgiven for anything that we could be doing. Anything that we're thinking," the former Destiny's Child member said. "We all come up short in some sort of way. And grace is real. And we are humans and everybody deserves grace. Period."
