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U.S. singer Chris Brown has been sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months, over an incident at a nightclub in London’s Mayfair district on Feb. 19, 2023.
Judge Tony Baumgartner delivered the sentence on Monday at Southwark Crown Court in London. Brown, 37, pleaded guilty in July to a charge of affray in connection with the incident, in which music producer Abe Diaw sustained head and knee injuries requiring hospital treatment. The charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Under U.K. law, an affray is a public order crime that happens when someone uses or threatens violence in public. To count as an affray, the fight or threat must be terrifying enough to make an average, ordinary bystander fear for their own safety.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed Brown hitting Diaw on the head with a glass bottle. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Brown struck Diaw twice with the bottle at the Tape nightclub in Hanover Square, Mayfair, a central London district.
Delivering his sentencing remarks, Baumgartner described the repeated use of the bottle as “plainly dangerous.” The judge acknowledged that the incident was short but said it was also “intense.” He said Brown did not qualify for a custodial sentence because of his guilty plea and several mitigating circumstances, including stable employment and charity work.
Earlier, Brown’s defense lawyers described the incident as “ugly and unattractive,” arguing that it was also “very short-lived.”
Brown’s vocal coach, 40-year-old Florida rapper Omololu Akinlolu, also pleaded guilty to affray. Akinlolu received a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
Brown and Akinlolu had initially denied more serious charges, including attempting to cause grievous bodily harm. Prosecutors did not proceed with those charges after the pair pleaded guilty to affray on July 24, when they had been due to stand trial in October.
Brown was arrested in Manchester in May 2025 after returning to the United Kingdom for the first time since the incident. He was released on bail after promising to pay a £5 million ($6.66 million) security fee, and the conditions allowed him to continue touring.
Under a suspended sentence in England and Wales, the prison term is not served unless the defendant commits another offense or breaches court conditions during the suspension period.
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