Chris Brown Files $500M Defamation Lawsuit Over ‘A History of Violence’ Documentary: ‘Full of Lies’

Chris Brown has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging the media giant defamed him with a 2024 documentary claiming that the R&B star had a long history of sexually abusing women.

Filed Tuesday (Jan. 21) in Los Angeles Superior Court, the complaint accuses Warner Bros. Discovery and Ample Entertainment, the production company behind Chris Brown: A History of Violence, of “promoting and publishing false information in their pursuit of likes, clicks, downloads and dollars and to the detriment” of the R&B star — all while “knowing that it was full of lies and deception and violating basic journalistic principles.”

“They did so after being provided proof that their information was false, and their storytelling ‘Jane Doe’ had not only been discredited over and over but was in fact a perpetrator of intimate partners violence and aggressor herself,” reads the lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys Arnold Shokouchi and Levi McCathern. “Mr. Brown has never been found guilty of any sex related crime…but this documentary states in every available fashion that he is a serial rapist and sexual abuser.”

The Jane Doe who made sexual assault accusations against Brown in the documentary — whom he identifies in the lawsuit — is also named as a defendant in the complaint, which alleges the woman “completely disregarded the facts in an attempt for fame and fortune — all at the cost of Chris Brown and the reputation he has worked diligently in redeeming over the last decade.”

The “sensationalized, unfounded, and defamatory allegations” in the documentary “have been discredited, dismissed by the courts, or outright fabricated,” Brown’s lawyers write. The lawsuit further alleges that the Jane Doe filed a “frivolous civil lawsuit” against Brown in January 2022 in which she accused him of sexual assault and battery — but that her claims “were determined to be entirely fabricated, leading to the withdrawal of her attorneys and dismissal of the case” that same August “after a Miami Beach Police detective uncovered text messages…that exposed her dishonesty.” It adds that while an investigative report published by Rolling Stone in March 2022 “further discredited her claims,” the ID documentary nonetheless portrayed her “as credible, ignoring her established lack of veracity.”

Later in the complaint, Brown’s attorneys break down the Jane Doe’s alleged “history of violence and erratic behavior [that] should have raised red flags for any responsible journalist.” The suit includes a copy of an alleged restraining order filed against Doe by an ex-boyfriend in 2021 “after she physically assaulted him, threatened him with a knife, and engaged in online harassment.”

“These incidents, detailed in court records and leading to her arrest by the Los Angeles Police Department, were disregarded by the Defendants, who instead framed her as a reliable source to bolster their sensationalized portrayal instead of the physical aggressor in a romantic relationship,” the complaint reads.

Key to the lawsuit is the accusation that the companies behind the documentary moved forward with its release even though they allegedly knew it “contained false claims and violated journalist professional standards” — claims Brown’s lawyers now say “caused significant harm to Mr. Brown’s reputation, career, and business opportunities.”

Several individuals who appeared as talking heads in the documentary are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Brown is asking for $500 million in damages, “a portion of which will be donated to survivors of sexual abuse.”

Warner Bros. Discovery and Ample Entertainment did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s requests for comment.