Lionel Richie had some choice words about Usher and Chris Brown’s joint stadium tour.
In a recent clip that surfaced online, Richie, while on tour with Earth, Wind and Fire, claims that Usher and Brown’s “R&B Tour” is nothing new.
“Usher and Chris Brown, see they trying to do something new,” Richie said. “The Commodores with Earth, Wind & Fire, we were doing that back 40 years ago,” he continued. “Only difference is… between then and now… we didn’t go to jail.”
With the audience bursting into laughter and applause, Richie moved quickly to apologize for bringing up Brown’s recent legal troubles.
“They’re fine Christian men,” Richie said.”We didn’t have that Instagram, and that TikTok and that go out and tell a lie and then go post it. What the hell was that?”
Richie’s stage return follows a series of sudden tour postponements. Last week, his San Francisco show was called off due to an Earth, Wind & Fire band member’s medical emergency. Back in June, Richie was forced to halt his St. Paul performance midway through after suffering a sudden dizzy spell.
“Now, what I have learned about my years of being in the business: when you are feeling dizzy, sit your a** down,” he told the crowd. “I want you to know that that is the first time in the history of ‘Dancing on the Ceiling’ I’ve done it sitting down. That’s a bad sign! That’s a bad sign, y’all.”
THE SUCCESS OF THE ‘R&B TOUR’
While Riche may have thrown some shade, Usher and Brown’s co-headlining “The R&B Tour” has quickly become a box-office juggernaut So, the tour has grossing over $100 million across its first eight stadium dates. Blending two decades of hits with high-flying choreography and stadium-sized production, the powerhouse duo is selling out venues nationwide while setting a new gold standard for R&B.