Latest / DISGRACELAND / Chris Brown: Police Standoffs, Rejection from Rehab, and America’s Most Hated Pop Star

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Chris Brown: Police Standoffs, Rejection from Rehab, and America’s Most Hated Pop Star · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Please check the show notes for more information.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown are insane. He once kept police locked in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a standoff for ten hours outside his California mansion. He
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: was kicked out of two different rehabilitation facilities. He remained
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: in the custody of US marshals for two and a
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: half months. He beat up then girlfriend Rihanna, and his
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: public image never quite recovered in the mainstream court of
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: public opinion, no thanks to a criminal history that he
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: adds to seemingly every year. But despite his lengthy rap sheet,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown made all right. I cannot say it, not
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: in good conscience. I can't say that Chris Brown's music
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: is my bag. You can yelp me on Instagram the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: comments if you want, But I can't say it because
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown's music is actually kind of liked. The music
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: from the top of this show not great music. That
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: was a preset loop for my melotron titled Tupperware Underwear MK.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Two.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I played you that clip because I can't afford the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: rights to closer By. The Chainsmokers, and why would I
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of Backseat Rover Cheese? Could
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I afford it? Because that was the number one song
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: in America on August thirtieth, twenty sixteen, And that was
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the day that Chris Brown relentlessly ranted on Instagram while
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: police and reporters waited for him outside his house for
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: nearly half a day over an alleged charge That might
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: have been one of the few times that the troubled
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: R and B singer actually didn't do anything wrong. In
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: this episode, police standoffs, rehab rejections, ruined reputations, and America's
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: most hated pop star, Chris Brown. I'm Jake Brennan, and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: this this disgraceland. The question sounded distorted. Chris Brown struggled
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to piece the words together, music fans restraining.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Order from where he was sitting.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: The Good Morning America host Robin Roberts sounded miles away, underwater,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: even diluted, like she was standing over him as he
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: sank to the bottom of a swimming pool. But the
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: reality was Chris Brown and Robin Roberts were sitting no
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: more than a few feet apart. He just couldn't hear
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: her over the ringing, and the noise started off small,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: just a dull little drone drumming in his ear. Then
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: it swelled, swelled like his chest when he was angry,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: swelled until the ringing overpowered whatever bullshit questions Roberts was
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: forcing upon him on national television. To Chris, it all
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: sounded like nonsense, fucking old news, nonsense. Have you all
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: seen each other? Been around each other? Robin was asking
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: about his ex girlfriend, Rihanna. Of course, Chris hunched his shoulders,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: clenched his teeth in the stool next to Robin. His
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: tattooed muscles twitched with tension. He was here to discuss
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: his new album Fame, not his criminal history, but Robin
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: wouldn't stop. When he tried to close the subject, she
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: circled back to it. His attack on Rihanna was inescapable
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: that night had followed him around for two years. Now,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: wasn't that long enough? Robin Roberts even spent more time
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: during his introduction explaining the assault that she did his
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: new album, which is what they were supposed to be
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: discussing in the first place.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Chris tried to play a cool He.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Muttered something about it not being a big deal to
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: him anymore, but the clenched jaw he was squeezing his
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: words through a total different story. He was grounded at
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the present, and the present was the new record. He
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: peppered in some thoughts about positivity for good measure, dropping
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the hint to Robin let it go. But she couldn't
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: let it go, and neither could mainstream America. Chris Brown
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: had just logged three number one songs in the US,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and still nobody could let it go. His new album
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: was even called Fame for Folk's sake. It stood for
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: forgiving all my enemies. He made his amends right, Why
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: couldn't everyone else make theirs? He completed his endless hours
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of community service, completed the one year course on domestic abuse.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Rihanna's restraining order against him had been relaxed with her permission.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Her permission blessed by Rihanna herself. Was no one going
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: to mention that little detail? Did nobody care about that?
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Why would they set up up like this? And why
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the fuck would you greet America with information regarding the
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: time he beat Rihanna until her face was purple. Robin
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: even had the audacity to ask how Chris had put
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: it all behind him. Chris didn't even let her finish
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the question. I've been focusing on this album, he spat,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: eager to circle back to the original topic. He fidgeted,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: rocking back and forth in the stool, pursing his lips.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: His body language radiated heat. I'm doing this for my fans.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I could care less.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: About what anybody else thinks, he concluded. But Chris Brown
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: did care. He cared deeply. He cared so much that
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: when the cameras stopped rolling, he marched back to his
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: dressing room and started a fistfight with the walls. He
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: tore his shirt from his body as his knuckles pummeled
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the drywall over and over again. His eyes welled with tears.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: A security guard peeped in the room, and Chris warned
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: him to keep his distance from the walls.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Took the beating.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Each punch was angrier than the last. The tabloid said
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: he launched a chair out of the dressing room windows.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Bullshit.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: The only thing that went through the window that day
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: was his fist. Already battered from hitting the wall and
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: now bloodied from the broken glass. He left the building
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: with bruised fists and a bruised ego, still shirtless and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sweaty from his tantrum, Paparazzi snapped photos as he skulped
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: down the street, and the headlines exploded. Chris Brown flies
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: into rage, breaks window at Good Morning America, violent outbur stormed.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Off the set.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown's image hadn't been rehabilitated, it had been reinforced.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: There was just one moment in his life that would
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: damage his career, not more than an hour, but a
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: lot of life defining moments can happen in an hour,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Just like when Chris Brown got his start, nothing special
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: ever really happened in Tappahannock, Virginia, located an hour northeast
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: of Richmond. The sleepy town of twenty four hundred people
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: boasts four hundred years of history, but little else. There
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: are no tourist attractions, no routed clubs, no concert venues.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Excitement doesn't come to Tappahannock on rare occasions. It merely
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: zips through. So when representatives from Hit Mission Records drove
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: around town looking for a place to fill their tank,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown's father, Clinton had reason to perk up.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: His job at a local gas station was.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: About to put Tappahanock on the map. Hell Clinton's quick
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: thinking that afternoon slapped the Brown name on magazine comforts
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: for decades to come as well. As Clinton approached the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: out of town car with a smile, the reps rolled
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: down their window and gave him the scoop. They were
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: just passing through in search of talent to add to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: their growing roster of entertainers. Clinton didn't hesitate. He volunteered
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the few words that would change Chris's life forever Well
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: my son sings hit Mission Records didn't need much convincing
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: once they saw the exuberant thirteen year old Clinton was
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: referring to. The kid was a fully grown showman trapped
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: in a teenager's body. He could save him performing his
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: whole life because he literally had been this mimicked Michael
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Jackson's moves at age two. Well, he tried to atleast
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: as well as a toddler could. He communed with God
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: in church, choir, stole the spotlight, and talent shows. If
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: there was an entertainment opportunity in Tappahannock, Chris Brown was
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: there and he was front and centered. Who was watching
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: didn't matter. He just wanted to move his body. As
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Chris two stepped through his teens, he wanted to move
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: his hustle elsewhere too. Life in Tappahannick felt claustrophobic, not
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: exactly the most lucrative place for up and coming artists.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It was a small town where everyone heard each other's
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: business the same way Chris could hear his stepfather beat
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: his mother through the walls of their trailer. For years,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Chris trembled as he heard the violence unfold in his
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: mother's bedroom, the screams, the sound of knuckles hitting flesh.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: He didn't dare move when his stepdad was lashing out,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: even if that many had to avoid using the bathroom
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: and even if many had to.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Wet himself instead.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Other times, when Chris had nothing better to do, he
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: refined his sweet talking skills with the ladies. He developed
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: his charm early. He imparted with his virginity at age eight.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Yes eight, and the girl was nearly twice Chris's age,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: But maybe he fist bumped his friends over the ordeal
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: or power. Eight year olds congratulate each other, but Chris
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: quickly learned that was about as exciting as life. Gud
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and Toppahannock he had too much talent, too much energy
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: to stay cooped up here like an animal in a cage.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Chris already knew where his life was headed, and the
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: folks at Hit Mission Records knew too. Enough With the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: small township, bring on the arena, stages, the stadiums, a
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: new life in New York was calling. Teenage Chris split
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: from Essex High School in late two thousand and four
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: before he could earn his degree. Hit Mission Records helped
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: his transition to the big city by arranging vocal lessons
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: and prepping demo packages to distribute to industry bigwigs. Once
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Chris uprooted his life in Virginia, he had his pick at.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: The record labels.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: An offer came in from def Jam, from fame music
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: industry mobile Elie Reid himself. Chris shot them down, instead
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: choosing Jive Records in favor of their success with the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: biggest pop stars of the day. Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears Usher.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Because that's what Chris Brown was going to be a
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: pop star, didn't matter what he's saying. R and B
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: pop pop stood for popular right. He was going to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: make R and B pop from mainstream radio speakers, and
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: by the time he was sixteen years old, Chris Brown
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: had popular on lock. His first hit, run It captured
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: the attention of every teenager in America, regardless of race, region,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: or religion. Chris Brown redefined R and B for a
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: new generation, one who previously thought of the genre as
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: slow jams their parents bumped you back. In the nineties,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: run It shot up to number one on the Billboard
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Hot one hundred, where it stayed for five weeks, making
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Chris the third youngest solo artist topped the chart. Only
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder and Peggy March had and B. When Run
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: It went platinum, it made R and B more accessible
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: than ever before. And if the hokey charm of the
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: song didn't get people on their feet, and his dance
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: moves did. He bobbed, He bobbed, he swerved, shuffled his
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: footwork left and levitating off the ground, jerking his legs
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: with such speed that he was barely more than a blur.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: His dancing was so fresh and so precise that it
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: made you want to dance your parents and your grandma too.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: He had the same infectious charms seen once in a generation,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: much like Usher, directly before him, directly before usher Chris's
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: ultimate inspiration, Michael Jackson. Chris Brown was in complete control
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: of his body, but only on the dance floor. Everything
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: major in Chris Brown's life happened fast, and it happened
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: when he was young. He was thirteen when he was discovered,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: fifteen when he was signed by a major record label,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: sixteen when he achieved his first platinum record, nineteen when
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: he ruined his reputation for the rest of his life.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: February seventh, two thousand and nine, Chris Brown pushed down
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: on the gas pedal of his rented Laborghini.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: His reputation faded in the rear view mirror.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: After departing Clive Davis's two thousand and nine pre Grammy
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Awards galap, Chris Brown's hands should have remained on the
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: wheel of the two thousand dollars a day car driving Rihanna,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: his girlfriend of two years, should have consumed all of
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: his attention that night, But instead, he beat Rihanna until
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: her face was barely recognizable. That he did a lot
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: of the damage while he was driving, and then when
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: he wasn't driving, he bit her, put her in a headlock,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: and throttled her arteries until she began to lose consciousness.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Rihanna said she didn't see a soul behind Chris Brown's
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: eyes that night. She didn't see anything behind the mouthful
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: of blood she spat in his face. Prior to that evening,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Chris professed he was ready to give Rihanna a ring. Instead,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: he gave her a cracked lip, swollen cheeks, a purple eye,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and a broken heart. He gave himself a reputation too.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown's career cooled to a simmer once word got
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: out that he had beaten a woman. He began to
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: receive death threats mixed in with the love letters. Where
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: his swift feet had once earned him nearly twenty million
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: dollars in endorsement deals, now his swift fists took those
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: deals away. His relationship with Rihanna naturally dissolved, and so
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: did his relationship with the public. America watched Chris Brown
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: accept the consequences in what would become his second home,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: a courtroom. He surrendered, pleaded guilty. He accepted his punishment
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: of one thousand hours of community service, one year of
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: domestic abuse classes in five years probation, but grudgingly, He
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: also accepted that he wasn't America's heart throb anymore, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be for a long time. Chris could live with
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: that at first, But shit, that was five years ago.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: It was twenty fourteen. Now where was the love? Wasn't
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: this getting a little ridiculous? The thoughts tormented him when
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: he lay awake at night in his stiff bed, no
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: phone to distract him, no fangirls to console them about
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the state of his career. Chris had plenty of time
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: to wallow. In fact, Chris had nothing but time, because
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, Chris Brown was imprisoned, held captive by
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: US marshals for the foreseeable future, not because of what
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: he'd done to Rihanna, but because of what hed done
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: after that. He went and got angry inside a place
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: that was supposed to be teaching him how to manage
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: his anger. He was pissed that he was doing time
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: for being pissed, and that damn ringing returned to his
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: ears louder than a siren.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: His cheeks flushed with frustration.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: He redirected his fury with the marker in his hand
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: and pushed down a conviction to doodle on the mirror
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and his cell. His sketches ran free across the glass,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: doing all the thinking. His elbow bumped the walls, smacking
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: his funnybone into concrete. He winced, but he was used
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: to it by now. Life in the hole was cramped
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and crappy. If Chris so much has stretched his arms out,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: he could touch both sides of the tiny prison cell,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: a suitable space for someone who didn't know how to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: control himself in the environment was the perfect recipe for rage,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: something he was trying so hard to quell deve inside him,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: even at times when the law wasn't forcing him to
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: take a class or performed community service. Another court case
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: loomed over his head at the moment. Chris Brown racked
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: up yet another assault charge. Earlier in twenty thirteen, when
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: he punched an over enthusiastic fan outside of a hotel
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. He threw a homophobic remark in
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the mix for good measure, stupid. Even Chris knew it
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: was stupid, so he checked into rehab for anger management.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Two weeks passed. Chris reflected, recuperated. He refrained from rage
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: right up until the moment that he launched a rock
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: through the window of his mother's car simply for suggesting
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: he'd stay at the facility a little bit longer, and
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the act blatantly violated his non violence contract at the facility.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: He was escorted out. His stay was roughly seventeen days.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: His mother, of course, didn't press charges. His parole officer, however,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: had plenty of new paperwork to file. A judge sentenced
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Chris to ninety days of treatment in a different facility
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: with one condition. Yet Chris was removed a second time.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: He'd go directly to prison. Do not pass go, do
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: not collect two hundred dollars prison stat No one was
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: surprised when Chris Brown fucked up again. Not even the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: threat of doing time could keep his anger in check.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: The second facility claimed Chris violated a specific set of rules,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: namely a rule about demanding he remained two feet away
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: from women at all times, and that protocol only applied
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: to Chris because well, you know, and they really rubbed
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the Rihanna incident in his face with that shit. Chris
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: said he didn't do anything wrong and cried victim from
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: behind bars, and no one cared us. Marshals didn't listen
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: as they dragged him between correctional facilities to hash out
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the verdict of his assault case in DC. To recap
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown was in jail for getting kicked out of
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a second rehab center, was carreded between cots while settling
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: a case about assaulting a fan, and still had yet
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: to complete his five year probation for assaulting Rihanna. All
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: of this was happening at the same time, and he
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: had the audacity to wonder why people thought he was
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the bad guy. But at least when he was locked up,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: it was hard for his parole officer to complain. Chris
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: couldn't get himself into trouble if he could barely move
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: within his cell, as was often the case, he'd only
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: stretch his legs. When his mother visited, usually on a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: weekly basis. Guards would escort him to a new room,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: a new set of four walls, and chain him to
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the table inside the metal jingled. When he waged his mother,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: he reminded them both of what he was, a criminal
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: mixed in with the robbers, the rapist and the murderers,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: and Chris's mind, those are the real bad guys. They
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: weren't like him, right I mean, he really had to wonder,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: And then again, they were in the same correctional facility.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Perhaps the only difference was that he liked to wear
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: diamond studs in his ears and hung platinum records on
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: the walls at home. If Chris was lucky, the guards
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: would throw him a bone and he'd get an hour
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: outside once a week, allowed to inhale some fresh air
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: from the discomfort of a cage on the roof of
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: the facility. Fresh air isolation. It was a welcome change
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: in comparison to the reek of shit and pissed from
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: fellow inmates soiling the floors indoors in some facilities, like today,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: he went straight to the hole, where he suffocated in
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a cell that was barely a glorified closet. He passed
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: hours doodling with a marker or parsing through the Bible,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: head down, hands clean. He just had to hold out
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: a little longer. It was twenty fourteen now, and his
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: probation would be over soon. There was a clean slate
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: waiting for him on the other side, straight ahead, if
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: he could stay straight himself. But Chris Brown couldn't keep
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a slate clean if.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: He tried we'll be right back after this.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: We're we're, we're. Chris Brown didn't exhale until he heard
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: the judge slammed the gabble. It was over five years,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: probation done, Look at me now, no more legal papers. Finally,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: it was March twenty first, twenty fifteen. Chris let out
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of breath and relaxed his shoulders for what felt like
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: the first time in his adult life. The evening with
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Rihanna that he fancied a mistake had been looming over
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: him since two thousand and nine, and now it was
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: finally settled and done with. He was free, but free
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: from what exactly. Free from the watchful, prying eyes of
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: a probation officer, for one, and that was a good start.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: He and the law were square. The court of public opinion, however,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: was still very much in session, and the folks in
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the comment section of every article on Instagram post weren't
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: so forgiving. He knew, because he read them all. And
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: maybe that's why he was so goddamn angry all the time.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: But I digress. It's how Chris Brown quickly learned he
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: wasn't free at all the world had already made up
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: its mind about Chris Brown. People didn't see him as
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: a musician. I saw him as a monster. Every new
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: headline served as a reminder of two thousand and nine.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: The headlines reinforced two thousand and nine. Chris Brown throws
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: a tantrum at Good Morning America. Monster Chris Brown assaults
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: a fan used as a slur while he's slugging the poritude. Monster.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown gets kicked out of not one but two
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: rehabilitation centers. Come on, who even does that? A monster?
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: That's who?
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: No one could forget two thousand and nine because Chris
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: kept finding unique ways to remind people of his character,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the same character that bludgeoned Rihanna. As far as most
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: people were concerned, Chris Brown belonged in a courtroom, not
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: in concert halls. The fans who remained were unshakable members
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: of Team Breezy. Spent their days mashing keyboards, logging radio
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: requests for his newest soas, and defending his dignity online.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: That was the power of a bad boy image, and
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: a bad boy image was the one thing Chris Brown
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: still had. Some people either didn't believe Chris had done
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: any of the crimes, or they just didn't care. Then
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: their allegiance was iron clad. Chris Brown heard his keys
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: jingle when he slipped his hand into his pocket. His
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: footsteps felt heavy, tired from days of sauntering around the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Las Vegas Strip on vacation. Now that he was home,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: he was eager to rest those dancing feet in the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: comfort of his z Agora Hill's mansion. Outside, the sun
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: slipped below the Cinematica mountains, and the final streaks of
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: orange and violet blended into the skyline. The streaks of
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: paint across Chris's car, on the other hand, weren't going anywhere.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Chris's eyes nearly popped out of his skull when the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: paint caught his eye. Was this an illusion? Twenty days
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: in Vegas could do that to him? Man?
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Chris rubbed his eyes and looked again.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: In big capital letters, the spray painted words missus Brown
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: redecorated his silver Rose Roy. Chris dropped his keys and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: dashed over to his black range over at the other
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: end of the garage, same spray paint, same message, Missus Brown,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: But there was no Missus Brown. Chris's eyes focused on
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the door of his house and it hung askew hinges broken.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: A total stranger was inside his house right now.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Chris bolted inside.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: He tossed the broken door out of his way, nearly
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: tripping over a pie woman's clothing in the foyer. He
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: rushed through the halls, kicked up on the doors to
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: every room he passed countless I Love you scribbled on the.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Walls, all caps, same handwriting. Was that dinner?
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: He smelled? Had someone been cooking? Never mind that? Right
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: now he found the final I Love you spray painted
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: across the kitchen counter with this so called missus Brown
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: had taken the time to cook dinner for him with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: great care. That's when it hit him. The bedroom, of course,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: twenty one year old Amayra a Yeb awaited him in
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: his bed, half naked and wrapped in a towel from
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: one of the mansions many bathrooms. As one of Chris's
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: frighteningly loyal fans, Amira was starstruck when her so called
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: soulmate entered the room. Chris would have been pissed if
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: she wasn't so flattered by the unnerving display of admiration.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: The light in Amira's eyes quickly faded, and she was
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: handcuffed and carted away in the back of a cruiser.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Before she could ruin any more of Chris's walls or countertops.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Chris snapped a photo of her and posted it on Instagram,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: labeling her a quote unquote crazy individual, as if he
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: himself had never done anything crazy in his life. Police
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: scoped out the scene and found enough evidence in the
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: kitchen to suggest that Amaira I had been waiting for
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Chris for days, days while he was away in Vegas.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Chris felt haunted, even hunted by her presence. It didn't
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: feel so good to be the person calling the police
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: for once. Bailey Carrn's heels clicked on the tile floor
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: as she stepped into Chris Brown's mansion. She slid the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: glass door to the back deck shut shivered as she
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: stepped into the CRISP air conditioning. Bailey, aka the former
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Miss California, was eager to show off for newfound notoriety
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: in one of Chris's music videos. She arrived at the
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: R and B Singers Pad that day to discuss what
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: she called quote unquote business opportunities, modeling, acting whatever Chris
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: wanted for his next video shoot. Bailey herself was no
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: stranger to scandal. She was crowned Miss California earlier that
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: year in twenty sixteen, but was stripped of her title
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: shortly thereafter when nude photos surfaced online. In August twenty sixteen,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: she was also wanted by NYPD in connection with the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Grand Marcity case from three years earlier at the Grand
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Plaza Hotel. Needless to say, mingling with a convicted felon
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: like Chris Brown wasn't a concern for Bailey, But after
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: stepping outside for some fresh air, Chris was nowhere to
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: be found. Chris's friends lounged around the house, divided into
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: their own clicks, nursing top shelf liquor, rolling joints, and
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: shooting the ship. Rumor had it that singer Ray J
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: was getting a tattoo somewhere. Bailey felt for her phone
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and her pants. Shit, that was right. She surrendered her
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: phone the moment she entered the mansion's gates. That was
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Chris's rule, and Bailey wasn't about to argue with the
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: man who had very public anger issues. Feeling bored and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: frustrated that she'd gone unnoticed, Bailey turned her attention to
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: a few men hovering over a jewelry box at the
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: other end of the room. She could see the gems, sparkle,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: diamond encrusted watches, gold chains, earrings with jewels so large
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: they looked like their wake and rip your ear lobe
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: right off. Bailey approached the case, eyeing a diamond studded
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: cross on a gold chain. She folded her hands behind
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: her back and leaned over the case in admiration. But
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Bailey wasn't invited to the viewing. One of Chris's posse
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: popped out of nowhere and nudged her towards the door,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: get away from the fucking diamonds. He backed Bailey into
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: her corner across the room, and her shoulders smacked the wall.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: She couldn't retreat any further, but that wasn't enough. Suddenly,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown rounded the corner of the room. Bailey thought
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: she could see something in his hand. He was gripping
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: it with unflinching confidence.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: What was that? He pointed it directly at her.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: He was getting closer. He asked her what the fuck
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: she was doing and.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: What was that?
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: She thought was that a gun? She couldn't be sure,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: but she didn't want to wait to find out. Bailey
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: didn't care about.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: Business opportunities anymore.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: She ducked outside. She stumbled around the grassy backyard and
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: down the driveway towards the safety of the street, and
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: as she made her escape, two members of Chris's entourage
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: approached her. One pulled out her phone, then the other
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: pulled out a pen and paper a non disclosure agreement.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: All Bailey had to do to get her phone back
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: was signed along the dotted line and promised to keep
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: her lipsipped about everything that had happened inside Chris's mansion today.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Fuck that, Bailey swiped her phone from the first man's
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: grasp and beat it down the street, sprinting as fast
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: as her patchan queen heels could carry her. And then
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: she used that same cell phone to call the police.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: At least that was the story she fed the police
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: when she called emergency responders in the wee hours of
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: August thirtieth, twenty sixteen. Chris claimed that he never heard
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the cruisers that pulled up to his mansion at three
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: am that morning. He says it was the police helicopter
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: looming above his house that tipped him off. Instead, police
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: surrounded the mansion. Reporters clustered together with their cameras, quietly
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: streaming the standoff on Facebook Live. Somehow, Chris Brown stayed cool,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: cool by Chris Brown's standards anyway. He knew his constitutional rights,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: and the cops are going to need a warrant if
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: they wanted.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: To barge in.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: He insisted, Bailey's story was all diva drama, fifteen minutes
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: of fame. So until the police had that special piece
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: of paper, they could just wait outside and watch the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: sky go from black to orange to blue. The police
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: helicopter could run out of gas and crash for all
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: he cared. Chris could wait. He kicked back on the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: sofa in his living room, folded his arms behind his back,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: crossed his legs on the ottoman. He could sit here
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: all day kiss Those cops weren't getting in without a warrant.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: While he waited, Chris did what he always did when
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: he was in trouble. He aired his dirty laundry online
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: through a series of Instagram posts. The news could keep
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: their live stream rolling for as long as they wanted,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and they couldn't compete with him. He knew the real
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: scoop was that there was no fucking scoop at all.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Good luck.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: When you get the warrant or whatever you need to do,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: you're gonna walk right up in here and see nothing.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: He hadiots. He spat, and for once in.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: His career, Chris Brown had it right.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Police opened drawers, turned over laundry baskets, looked in kitchen cabinets,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: poured over the nooks and crannies of the massive mansion.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: They entered Chris Brown's home around one PM on August thirtieth,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, ten hours after they first arrived that morning.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: They laughed with nothing more than their search warrant. They
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: didn't find any guns, let alone the gun Chris supposedly
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: pulled on Bailey. They didn't find the diamond necklace amongst
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Chris's pajeweled chains and watches either. It just didn't add up.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Bailey had been specific, maybe too specific for her own good.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown left in the back of a cruiser anyways.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Arrested on suspicion for assault with the deadly weapon, MC
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: cops booked him and tossed him behind bars before he
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: made his hefty two hundred and fifty thousand dollars bail.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: He didn't panic this time, by twenty sixteen. Chris was
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: well acquainted with this kind of systerile scenery. He just
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: slipped in the cash and slipped out of his cell,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: returning home to a Gora Hills disgruntled and disheveled from
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the day long affair. When the newspapers reported that the
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: cops hadn't called anything from their search of Chris's mansion,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: a related headline started making the rounds. Chris's lawyer supposedly
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: possessed it text message from Bailey to her friend that
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: exposed the entire situation as a hoax. But those headlines
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: didn't make it very far beyond TMZ and hip hop
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: news sites. No one wanted to read them. They wanted
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: to read the juicy stuff, the latest entry and Chris
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Brown's never running a book of bad behavior, and the
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: social media meltdowns that accompanied them. A ten hour standoff
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: that involved police, helicopters, and insults hurdled at the fuzz
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: via Instagram. That was the story. What came after it
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: not so much. Chris Brown didn't just have an established
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: rap sheet. He ruined his chances of expunging it over
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: and over again when he had public fits when he
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: subjected rehab facilities, fans and fellow musicians to the wrath
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: he could never wrankle, probably because he never stayed in
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: a rehab facility long enough to make any true progress.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: By twenty sixteen, Chris Brown had appeared in the courtroom
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: so many times that it was just assumed at this
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: point Chris Brown was guilty always. He had too many priors,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: too many strikes against them, striking women and fans. It
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: was so assumed that the one time Chris Brown might
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: actually be innocent, no one seemed to notice. He had
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: lost the luxury of innocent until proving guilty, and he
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: only had himself to blame him. Really, charges were never
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: filed against Chris Brown for the incident, and the case
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: was dropped. The general population devoured the standoff story as
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Chris returned to the studio to record his next single,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: a collaboration with Usher and Gucci Man called Party that
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: would go two times platinum. He followed it up with
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: a forty five track monstrosity of a record titled Heartbreak
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: on a Full Moon. He says the double album was
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: inspired by his breakup with Carucci Tran, the same woman
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: who earlier that year very publicly acquired a five year
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: restraining order against Chris, citing allegations of physical abuse, even death.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Threats, while Caruci feared for her safety.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Heartbreak on a Full Moon sold more than nine hundred
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: thousand album equivalent units by the end of twenty seventeen,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: three hundred and thirty thou Pure sales law. To this day,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Chris Brown, the man who can't keep his fists in
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: his pockets and refuses to truly atone for his violence,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: still earns platinum albums. He can still move nearly a
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: million albums and record sales. He can collaborate with an
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: icon like Usher because fans allow him to, because no
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: matter how often he behaves badly, fans want to see
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: what he's gonna do next, and that is a disgrace.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in This is Disgraceland.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: And Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: be found on the show notes page at disgracelamdpod dot com.
• 32:53
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• 32:56
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• 32:59
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• 33:01
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• 33:05
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• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Rock a Rolla
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: He the bed Man