Chris Brown Fans Express Outrage Over Canceled AMAs Performance

The 2022 American Music Awards is going to be extra special this go around. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the show, which Dick Clark created as an alternative to the Grammys in 1973 (via Billboard). Hosted by Wayne Brady, the show will be packed to the brim with performances. The first round of artists slated to perform was announced in October and included Imagine Dragons, Carrie Underwood, Pink, Tems, Wizkid, and Yola, according to Billboard. However, ABC recently added Ari Lennox, Bebe Rhexa, Charlie Puth, and Stevie Wonder (to name a few) to the performance roster. However, one star who won't be taking the stage is Chris Brown. 

Days before the ceremony, Brown, whose downfall in music kicked off after he abused ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, announced via Instagram that his scheduled performance had been unexpectedly axed. Brown released a video of himself and his dancers rehearsing, captioning it, "U SERIOUS?" Judging from the clip, Brown was supposed to open his set with a short performance of his 2019 hit "Under The Influence," which has recently gone viral on TikTok, then transition into a medley of Michael Jackson's hits. However, the rehearsal footage is all that Brown's fans will get to see. According to TMZ, Brown also commented: "WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown."

Given Brown's announcement, his fans have taken to Twitter to express their thoughts. And they are not happy.

As of this writing, the AMAs has given no official response as to its reasoning behind canceling Chris Brown's performance. However, the singer's fans are certainly voicing their opinions about the whole ordeal. "The disrespect to want Chris Brown to perform, let him rehearse and waste his time and then cancel on him is next level. Explain yourselves, AMAs," tweeted one user. Another fan said, "Y'all better give Chris Brown his flowers while he's here. That man is mad gifted in numerous ways. Singing, dancing, acting, painting, etc. The list goes on and on." Meanwhile, another fan is planning to skip the award show in support of Brown. "@AMAs I will not be watching if he doesn't do this tribute! We have not had one in a while and in my opinion @chrisbrown is the ONLY person that can do this! This is really sad!" tweeted the fan.

Comic Lil Divall also chimed in, tweeting, "That's f***ed up the AMAs canceled Chris brown performance. He ain't did nothing wrong publicly lately that y'all can say is the reason." Sports Lifestyle commentator David Ben also showed his support via Twitter. "Honestly, Chris Brown could've been the next MJ if not for that ugly incident in 2009. He lost deals, fans, friends, but he never lost his talent and not many artistes would've come back from that especially with the controversies that followed. But he's just incredibly gifted," he wrote.