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Kelly Rowland Defends Chris Brown At AMAs, Tells Audience To \"Chill Out'

WBLS Staff
11/22/2022 12:00 AM EST
Kelly Rowland isn't typically known for clapping back in any situation, but that all changed at the 2022 American Music Awards. She made sure the crowd at the event knew that there would be no slander of any kind on her watch. The singer graced the stage to present the nominees for the Favorite Male R&B Artist category. When she announced the winner was Chris Brown, some members of the audience began to boo simultaneously. That's when the Motivation singer had to step in.“Excuse me — chill out,” Rowland admonished while holding up a very stern pointed finger at the crowd. “But I wanted to tell Chris, thank you so much for making great R&B music. And I want to tell him thank you for being an incredible performer. I'll take this award, bring it to you. I love you. Congratulations. And congratulations to all the nominees in this category.”For context, Chris Brown was expected to attend the award show as well as perform a tribute to the late, Michael Jackson, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Jackson’s Thriller album. On Saturday, just one day before the awards, Brown posted a seven-minute Instagram video of him rehearsing an elaborately choreographed medley of Jackson’s “Beat It,” “Wanna Be Startin' Somethin’,” “Billie Jean,” and “Thriller.” The post was captioned solely with "U SERIOUS?” In the comments section of the post he explained that his Jackson tribute had been called off at the last minute saying "WOULD'VE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown."Let this be a reminder that Kelly Rowland is not the one to play with!