Chris Brown would be Michael Jackson if Rihanna hadn’t attacked him

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With Chris Brown currently on an arena tour through New York and New Jersey, Fat Joe thinks it’s time to put Brown’s criminal record behind him and present the singer with flowers.

The Terror Squad leader posted on Instagram Live over the weekend, claiming that Chris Breezy would be on the same cultural level as Michael Jackson if he hadn’t attacked Rihanna, Brown’s then-girlfriend, in 2009.

“If Chris Brown had never gotten into the controversy with Rihanna, we would be calling him Michael Jackson right now,” Joe explained. “Not like Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson. He is the most talented singer, artist, performer and hitmaker of our time. There is no one that even comes close to Chris Brown. And it’s time we got over it. It’s been over 20 years. As far as I know, there have been no further incidents. Man, are we letting this life go by without telling the truth?”

Since his attack on Rihanna in 2009, Brown has faced numerous legal problems. Among other things, he punched a man in the face in 2013, for which he pleaded guilty to simple assault. In 2017, he was accused of hitting a photographer. The charges were later dropped due to “insufficient evidence.” His ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran obtained a restraining order against the singer after she accused him of abuse. And more.

Fat Joe continued, “When the truth is an unpopular decision, everyone is afraid to speak it, they get canceled. Especially famous people. The streets know what’s going on. The streets always know you have to tell them the truth. The streets still come up against R. Kelly. He’s in prison, he’s done horrible things. They still come up against R. Kelly.”

Fat Joe subsequently defended Brown, declaring him the “King of R&B” and saying that he was “a little kid” at the time of his attack on Rihanna.

“So what I’m saying is, it’s a shame that we’re lying and we’re taking the king of R&B and outranking the king of music,” the Bronx native added. “We thought he could take on Michael Jackson, that’s all I’m saying. When you really look at his body of work, when you look at all his hits, when you see what he’s doing… You get out of your head that we don’t like this. We don’t like that he had a controversy… He was a little boy 20 years ago.”

The “Lean Back” rapper is apparently referring to the aggravated assault on Rihanna in February 2009, which took place when Chris Brown was 19 years old. The singer was arrested for physically abusing Ri in a car outside a Grammy Awards party hosted by Clive Davis; in June of the same year, he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

Billboard has asked Rihanna’s representative for comment.

Brown reflected on the night in his 2017 Welcome in my life documentary. “I look at the picture again and think to myself, ‘That’s not me, brother, that’s not me.’ I hate it to this day. It will haunt me forever,” he admitted.

CB is still on the road with his 11:11 tour, which takes him north of the border with dates in Montreal and Toronto before returning to the U.S. next week with performances in Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Watch Fat Joe share his thoughts below.