Chris Brown pleaded guilty to a charge of “affray” (a disturbance of public order due to a public fight) on Friday in London’s Southwark Crown Court on Friday (July 24), saving the 37-year-old singer from more serious charges of assault tied to an alleged bottle attack at a London nightclub in 2023.

According to BBC News, Brown’s plea of affray was tied to what prosecutors referred to as a “vicious and unprovoked attack” on the victim at private members’ club Tape in the Mayfair neighborhood on Feb. 19, 2023. Prosecutors claimed that Brown approached the victim — identified as music producer Amadou “Abe” Diaw — and struck him over the head with a bottle, with Brown’s 40-year-old vocal coach, Omololu Akinlolu (aka Florida rapper Hoody Baby ), reportedly joining in to punch Diaw in the head.

Akinlolu also pleaded guilty to affray and also had assault and causing grievous bodily harm charges dropped in Friday’s hearing, which took less than five minutes.

Brown was arrested in May 2025 as he arrived in Europe for his Breezy Bowl XX tour and charged with assault, suspicion of grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon (a tequila bottle). Both Brown and Akinlolu had previously pleaded not guilty to the more serious charges last June. Following his arrest, Brown was released on $6.75 million bail and allowed to begin his Breezy Bowl XX European dates in Amsterdam last June.

At press time a spokesperson for Brown had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the plea.

“This was a disgraceful, unprovoked assault that put a man in hospital,” Metropolitan Police Detective Zara Ripamonti told BBC News. “There is no place for serious violence like this in the London and I’m pleased these men accepted what they did wasn’t just completely unacceptable — but criminal.
This has been a long investigation and we’ve worked with police colleagues in the UK to bring these two men to justice.”

Prosecutors said after Brown allegedly hit Diaw over the head with a bottle, Akinlolu joined in and punched Diaw in the head and the two men “continued to assault whilst the victim attempted to flee through the club,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement. “The victim was kicked while he was seated defenseless on the floor.” Diaw was hospitalized and treated for head and knee injuries. Diaw previously filed, and then dropped, a $16 million lawsuit against Brown over the assault; it is unclear why the suit was dropped or if the two men reached an out-of-court settlement.

Brown and Akinlolu are due back in court on Oct 26 for a sentencing hearing on the affray charges, which could bring a maximum sentence of three years in prison. Bail conditions set by the judge allow Brown to leave the U.K. ahead of the sentencing, stipulating that he must return by Oct. 25.