The singer Chris Brown pleaded guilty to a charge of affray in a London courtroom on Friday, three years after he was accused of hitting a music producer with a tequila bottle at a nightclub in the city.
Mr. Brown, 37, entered the plea along with his vocal coach, Omololu Akinlolu, 40, who was also involved in the attack, according to Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr. Brown was facing a more serious charge of attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm, and his case was set to go to trial in October. The lesser charge of affray, or threatening violence, carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
The case stems from a conflict at the Tape London nightclub in February 2023. According to prosecutors, Mr. Brown approached Abraham Diaw, a music producer, on the dance floor, and struck him twice on the head with a glass bottle.
Mr. Akinlolu, an American rapper who performs under the name HoodyBaby, joined Mr. Brown and punched Mr. Diaw in the head, prosecutors said. The defendants continued to attack Mr. Diaw, who was hospitalized with head and knee injuries, prosecutors said. Mr. Akinlolu also pleaded guilty to an affray charge at the hearing on Friday.
“This was a vicious and unprovoked attack by Brown and Akinlolu,” Claire Campbell, a prosecutor in the case, said in a statement.
After the fight, the police issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Brown and Mr. Akinlolu, but they had left Britain. Roughly two years later, in 2025, Mr. Brown returned to the country for a concert in Manchester, and was arrested.
Mr. Brown pleaded not guilty to charges in June 2025. At the time, the singer posted bail of 5 million pounds, or about $6.7 million, which allowed him to travel outside Britain and continue his world tour.
Mr. Brown arrived at the Southwark Crown Court on Friday wearing a tan suit and a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. A group of fans who had gathered at the courthouse played Mr. Brown’s music, shouted his name and held supportive signs, according to the BBC. As he left the courthouse, he signed autographs.
Mr. Brown and Mr. Akinlolu are scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Mr. Brown, a Grammy-winning R&B singer, rose to fame in the mid-2000s. He released his debut single in 2005 and has two Grammys and 17 Billboard top 10 hits.
His success, however, has been marred by legal troubles, including an arrest after a standoff with police at his home in Los Angeles in 2016, hitting a man outside a Washington hotel in 2013 and assaulting his former girlfriend, the pop star Rihanna, in 2009.
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