Chris Brown pleaded guilty to affray on Friday over a 2023 attack in a London nightclub. Prosecutors dropped three more serious charges. The singer, 37, entered his plea at Southwark Crown Court in a hearing that ran under five minutes. He had been scheduled to stand trial in October.
Prosecutors dropped the GBH charge after Chris Brown admitted affray
According to BBC, Brown had denied the charges that were dropped: attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, causing actual bodily harm, and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a tequila bottle. Affray sets a lower threshold. The law defines it as using or threatening violence towards someone in a way that makes them fear for their safety.
His co-defendant entered the same plea too. Omololu Akinlolu, 40, raps under the name Hoody Baby and works as Brown’s vocal coach. Prosecutors identified the victim as music producer Abraham Diaw.
The incident took place at Tape, a private members’ club in Mayfair, on Feb 19, 2023. Prosecutors said Brown struck music producer Abraham Diaw twice on the head with a bottle while Akinlolu punched him, and that surveillance cameras recorded the fight in a crowded room. Claire Campbell of the Crown Prosecution Service described “a vicious and unprovoked attack.”
The affray plea does not admit those specific details, since the weapon charge was withdrawn. Police arrested Brown at a Manchester hotel in May 2025, when he returned to Britain for the first time since the incident.
Brown arrived at court in a beige suit and baseball cap, flanked by security, and waved at supporters. Fans played his music, held signs and shouted his name. Once called out, “I love you, Chris”.
Earlier hearings set his bail at a £5 million security fee, which allowed him to tour as long as he surrendered his passport on arrival in each country. He opened that tour at Manchester’s Co-Op Live arena last summer and addressed the case from the stage. “Thank you for coming and supporting me,” he told fans. “And thank you to the jail,” he told the crowd. “It was really nice.”
Judge Toney Baumgartner will sentence both men on Oct. 26, 2026.
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