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Chris Brown's lawsuit against the makers of a documentary about his alleged violent past has been dismissed by a judge.
On Monday, January 12, Judge Colin Leis ruled that the producers of Investigation Discovery's Chris Brown: A History of Violence adhered to journalistic standards when they created and released the program last year. In his lawsuit, Brown alleged the documentary was “full of lies and deception," especially the portion that centers around a woman's claim that he raped her on a yacht owned by Sean "Diddy" Combs. The singer's attorneys argued that the woman's story was false and noted that she purposely hid key text messages from the Miami Police Department.
“The court has personally viewed the entire documentary," Judge Leis wrote, per Billboard. "The documentary recites most of the inconsistencies plaintiff notes, including the existence of the text messages. Media defendants thus presented a ‘fair and true’ report of [the woman’s] statements and the judicial record and proceedings.”
Brown sued Warner Bros. Discovery and Ample Entertainment, the production company that produced the documentary, for $500 million. His attorneys filed the lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP law, which negates the use of litigation to target First Amendment-protected free speech. The statute, which was enacted in 1992, requires plaintiffs who take legal action against journalists to establish “minimal merit” to move forward with a lawsuit. Judge Leis declared that Brown had no merit after he claimed the documentary defamed him by including culture writer Scaachi Koul’s interview.
“Plaintiff presents no evidence that Scaachi Koul’s opinions about plaintiff’s predilections are false,” Judge Leis said.
As of this report, neither Brown nor his attorneys have reacted to the decision.