Chris Brown Pleads Not Guilty to Assault Charge in London

Chris Brown appeared in a London courthouse Friday, June 20, where he pleaded not guilty to an assault charge.

Brown is accused of attacking the producer Amadou “Abe” Diaw with a tequila bottle and stomping on him while they were at a London nightclub in February 2023. At the courthouse Friday, Brown was seated in a plexiglass box while the judge described the alleged incident. Afterward, Brown pleaded not guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent, The New York Times reports.

The singer is facing two additional charges, one for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and another for carrying an offensive weapon. But Brown’s lawyer asked the judge for more time before the singer enters a plea so his legal team could look over evidence the prosecution only just handed over. A follow-up hearing is set for July 11.

The judge, Tom Baumgartner, has scheduled Brown’s trial for October 2026. He said he expected it to last between five and seven days. 

Brown was arrested back in May while at a hotel in Manchester, and a judge initially ruled that he should be held without bail due to the “extremely serious” allegation against him. He spent several days in jail until a custody hearing when a judge granted him a $6.7 million bail. 

Brown was released and he’s since been allowed to embark on his summer world tour, which began with a U.K. and European leg, and arrives in North America in late July. At his tour kickoff in Manchester, he thanked fans for supporting him while he was in custody, and joked, “And thank you to the jail. It was really nice.”

Along with Brown, the rapper HoodyBaby (real name Omolulu Akinlolu) was also charged with grievous bodily harm with intent in connection to the alleged February 2023 attack. Akinlolu, a longtime friend and collaborator of of Brown’s, also pleaded not guilty to the charge against him on Friday.