Frank Ocean wants to press charges against Chris Brown, following their recent scuffle in a Los Angeles parking lot.
The Channel Orange singer has history with Brown: in 2011, the two got involved in a public Twitter spat that led to Brown’s cousins following / harassing / threatening Ocean in a car, before uploading a recording of the whole incident to YouTube. Then, last Summer, Brown is reported to have made a dig at Ocean’s sexuality when talking to press outside of a nightclub (the news came weeks after Ocean “came out” in the open letter posted to accompany Channel Orange‘s release). Brown later denied this.
This latest incident, according to TMZ, stemmed from a disagreement over a parking space outside LA’s Westlake Recording studio. TMZ‘s sources claim that “as Chris went to leave, Frank Ocean and his crew blocked Chris from leaving. The sources say Frank said, “This is my studio, this is my parking spot.” We’re told Chris went to shake Frank’s hand … and that’s when one of Frank’s people attacked Chris. Sources connected with Chris say one of Chris’ friends jumped in front and hit Frank’s friend.”
Ocean, however, had a different version of events, Tweeting that he “got jumped” by Brown and “a couple guys”, before adding that he “cut my hand now I can’t play with two hands at the grammys.”
Police eventually cleared the scene, and spoke to Ocean – Brown was reportedly not there when they arrived. Now, according to spokesman for the LA country sheriff’s department Steve Whitmore [via NY Daily], Ocean is keen to press charges; or, in police speak, “Chris Brown is a named suspect in a battery report. The victim is desirous of prosecution.” Of course, this doesn’t guarantee that Brown- or anyone – will be charged, and Whitmore continues to explain that “we have no idea if anybody is going to be officially arrested.”
Brown’s lawyer, however, is reported to have already contacted press and police. Mark Geragos – who represented Brown in 2009’s infamous Rihanna case – claims to have video footage that shows that it was the singers’ entourages, rather than the stars themselves, that were fighting.