After Chris Brown announced that he would be performing in Johannesburg, tickets for the city’s 94,000-capacity FNB Stadium sold out in under two hours. A second show was swiftly added.
Nearly as quickly came a protest against Brown, who has faced allegations of violence and harassment of women including his guilty plea on charges that he assaulted Rihanna, his then-girlfriend, in 2009. Women for Change, a South African nonprofit, started a petition to block Brown’s performances on Dec. 14 and 15. The organization presented the petition, which received over 50,000 signatures, to the country’s Departments of Home Affairs and of Sports, Arts and Culture, asking that Brown be denied a visa.
The singer’s planned return has particular resonance in South Africa, where women are killed at a rate five times higher than the global average, with 60.1 percent of those murders committed by an intimate partner, according to a study by the South African Medical Research Council. “We aim to send a clear message that South Africa will not celebrate individuals with a history of violence against women,” Sabrina Walter, the founder of Women for Change, said in an interview.
Brown and his representatives have not addressed the protest, but in October, as the group spread the #MuteChrisBrown hashtag on social media, the singer seemed to troll the organization by writing, “Can’t wait to come,” under one of its Instagram posts. Walter said the reply triggered a wave of online harassment from Brown’s followers, including death threats against her and her team.
It was not the first time Brown used his fame to rally against detractors. He has challenged other celebrities who refer to allegations made against him, and in February used Instagram to accuse the NBA of bowing to sponsor pressure to disinvite him from participating in an event related to its All-Star game. In 2019, Brown was released without charges after being accused of aggravated rape in France. He then sold T-shirts that read “This Bitch Lyin’” online.
In the years since his 2009 arrest, Brown has been accused a number of times of violence against women, including throwing a rock through his mother’s car window in 2013 and punching a woman at a Las Vegas nightclub in 2016. In 2017, his ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran obtained a temporary restraining order, citing harassment, physical violence, intimidation and death threats during and after their on-again-off-again relationship, which lasted from 2011 to 2015. In 2022, a judge dismissed a lawsuit that accused Brown of drugging and raping a woman on a yacht owned by Sean Combs.
He has also remained a popular recording artist and in-demand performer. Brown’s “11:11” album, released last November, debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200. Last month, he was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including best African music performance for his single “Sensational” featuring the Nigerian American singer-songwriter Davido and the Nigerian singer Lojay.
Women for Change said it has yet to receive a response to the petition from concert promoters and the Department of Home Affairs, which it called on to revoke Brown’s visa. “The views, beliefs, and actions of the artists who perform at the stadium are their own and not for us as venue authority to judge,” said Bertie Grobbelaar, the chief executive of Stadium Management South Africa, which operates the venue.
Amid the swell of objections to Brown’s performances, some have drawn personal boundaries on supporting his work. Esona Mtyela, a 21-year-old student at the University of Cape Town, signed the petition but said she tries to listen to Brown’s music on the radio to avoid contributing to his earnings. “Chris Brown’s wealth and fame have allowed him to continue being abusive with near impunity,” she said. “The fans that continue supporting him in this way are enabling him.”
Mamokgethi Phakeng, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, initially celebrated scoring tickets on a post to X in October, but then saw negative replies. She defended her purchase in multiple posts that went viral. “Music is bigger than the individual; it connects us and heals us in different ways,” she wrote. “Some of us are capable of loving art while still holding artists accountable.”
Dr. Phakeng said in an interview that a “vocal minority” was attempting to “overrule the preferences of the majority.” She adds, “I respect the organization and its mission, but I think it is unfortunate that they chose to target people’s legal choices rather than focus on promoting awareness in a way that builds rather than divides.”
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