Chris Brown pleads not guilty to beating music producer with bottle in London nightclub in 2023

London — Grammy-winning singer Chris Brown pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge related to the serious beating of a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub in 2023.

Brown, 36, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and black-rimmed glasses, pleaded not guilty in Southwark Crown Court to one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

Brown’s friend and fellow musician Omololu Akinlolu, 38, who performs under the name “Hoody Baby,” pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

Brown was arrested at a hotel in Manchester in northern England hotel last month. It was the first time he returned to Britain since the alleged incident, the Reuters news agency reports.

Prosecutors said Brown and Akinlolu assaulted producer Abe Diaw at a bar in the Tape nightclub in the swanky Mayfair neighborhood in February 2023. Brown allegedly launched an unprovoked attack on Diaw and hit him several times with a bottle and then punched and kicked him.

The attack was caught on surveillance camera in front of a club full of people, prosecutors said.

Brown was released last month on 5 million-pound ($6.75 million) bail, which allowed him to start his “Breezy Bowl XX” world tour earlier this month.

Brown, who burst onto the music scene as a teen in 2005, won his first Grammy for best R&B album in 2011 for “F.A.M.E.” and then earned his second in the same category for “11:11 (Deluxe)” earlier this year.

His hits include songs such as “Run It,” “Kiss Kiss” and “Without You.”

He is currently touring the U.K., playing this weekend in London with subsequent shows in Ireland, Scotland, France and Portugal. He returns to North America at the end of July to play Miami, before moving across the U.S. with a two-night stop in Toronto along the way.

His trial was scheduled for Oct. 2026.

Brown has a history of legal issues dating back to his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend Rihanna. He pleaded guilty to felony assault at the time. In 2014, Brown pleaded guilty to hitting a man outside a Washington, D.C., hotel. In 2024, Brown, along with his paid entourage, allegedly beat several men who attended his concert in Texas. 

Earlier this year, Brown sued Warner Bros. Discovery for defamation over labeling the singer as an abuser in the 2024 documentary “Chris Brown: A History of Violence.”