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Chris Brown Tells Texas Lawmaker to 'Keep That' Congressional Honor After He Apologizes for Giving It
After Texas state Rep. Venton Jones publicly apologized for honoring Chris Brown with a Congressional Record recognition, the singer fired back — insisting he never asked for the honor and telling the lawmaker to leave him alone.

Chris Brown wants nothing to do with the congressional honor he was handed in Texas last weekend — and he's making that crystal clear now that the state lawmaker who presented it has publicly apologized for doing so.
On Saturday, Sept. 12, Texas state Rep. Venton Jones joined U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett on stage at Brown's tour stop at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where Jones presented the singer with a state proclamation honoring his music career while Crockett entered both Brown and Usher into the Congressional Record. The gesture drew immediate backlash, with critics noting Brown's 2009 felony conviction for assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna, plus more recent civil claims from other women accusing him of abuse.
Days later, Jones sat down on Don Lemon's show and walked the honor back, according to TMZ, which first reported the apology.
"I want to offer an apology ... it was not my intention to stoke the traumas that go into that," Jones said, directing his remorse toward Black women and domestic violence survivors.
'Y'all Came To Me With This'
That apology did not sit well with Brown, who fired back on Instagram this week. Brown wrote that Jones "immediately started tap dancing and apologizing because he didn't wanna lose voters or support," according to Complex, which published screenshots of the singer's posts.
The singer insisted he never asked for the recognition in the first place. "Yall came to me with this! Not the other way around," Brown wrote, adding that he was "minding my damn business" when the lawmakers approached him. He capped the message with a blunt request, telling Jones and company to "keep that award" and to leave him alone so he can "focus on the fans that spent their money to actually see and support me," a line echoed across Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth's report on the fallout.
Jones's apology and Brown's response have reignited a familiar debate over how public officials — and the entertainment industry more broadly — continue to honor Brown nearly two decades after his assault conviction. Mediaite noted that Jones, a Democrat, faced swift pressure from constituents almost immediately after video of the Arlington ceremony began circulating online.
Neither Crockett nor Usher had publicly addressed the dust-up as of Wednesday. Brown, for his part, appears to be moving on without the accolade — and without much patience for the politicians who offered it.