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Chris Brown Apologizes for 'GMA' Incident on BET

ABC News denies singer's claim on BET that interview exceeded "talking points."

ByABC News
March 23, 2011, 7:56 AM

March 23, 2011 — -- R&B singer Chris Brown has publicly apologized a day after storming backstage following an interview and performance on "Good Morning America" -- but claimed he got angry because the interview went beyond "talking points" his camp submitted, something ABC News denied.

"First of all, I want to apologize to anybody who was startled in the office, or anybody who was offended or really looked, and [was] disappointed at my actions," Brown said, according to a transcript of his live appearance on BET's "106 & Park." "Because I'm disappointed in the way I acted.

"Yes, I got very emotional," he later added. "And I apologize for acting like that."

Brown emphasized that he did not hurt anyone backstage at "GMA" but had to release "the anger that I had inside of me." He grew angry after, he claimed, he was thrown off balance by questions about his domestic abuse incident involving his ex-girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, in an interview he believed would focus on his new album.

In a prepared statement, ABC News said, "Chris Brown was invited on 'Good Morning America' to perform and to be interviewed. There were no talking points offered."

Brown told BET that he saw the interview differently.

"I felt like, 'OK, they told us this just so they can get us on the show so they can exploit me.' You know, that's what I thought," Brown told BET. "I kind of took it very, very hard. And I kept my composure throughout the interview, although you could see me upset, you know. I kept my composure and did my performances, and when I got back, I just let off, like, steam in the back."

Roberts earlier suggested Brown had agreed to talk about his past on "Good Morning America" Tuesday and was aware that questions would be asked about Rihanna.

"Any time we have a guest here on the program, we let them know ahead of time the subject matter, the topics that we're going to discuss and we, even right before the interview, I said that to Chris and I was shocked like everybody else was," Roberts said today on "GMA."

Brown has been invited to return to "GMA" and is seriously considering the offer.

"We wish him the absolute best and ... we've extended the invitation to him and I sure hope that he takes us up on it, because we'd love to have another chat with him," Roberts said today.

During Tuesday's interview, Roberts asked Brown about the status of the restraining order against him stemming from a felony assault case involving Rihanna.

"Recently, the restraining order against you that Rihanna had issued has been relaxed," Roberts said Tuesday. "Have you seen each other, been around each other?"

"Not really," Brown said. "It's not a big deal to me as far as that situation. ... This album is what I want to focus on and not something that happened two years ago."

Roberts said that she thought Brown was joking when he tried to redirect the interview to discuss his new album, "F.A.M.E."

"You saw me laughing during the interview because when he was doing that, I thought he was joking about some things because of the easy relationship that we have," Roberts said.

A fuming Brown returned to his dressing room after the interview and performance of "Yeah 3x," the lead single off his new album.

Then he came back down the hall, still backstage, and stopped upon seeing the person who produced the segment. Brown didn't have his shirt on.

The show's hair and makeup staff said they called security because they heard loud noises coming from Brown's dressing room. The broken window of Chris Brown's "GMA" dressing room.

By the time the smashed window was discovered, Brown and his team had left the building. Paparazzi photos show the singer shirtless outside "GMA's" Times Square studio.

What happened behind the scenes has taken center stage, becoming fodder for late-night comics and gracing newspaper covers this morning. It was debated on "The View."

"Somebody backstage said, 'Oh, he's a thug, Chris Brown,'" Sherri Shepherd said. "I said, "Why didn't you call Charlie Sheen a thug?'"

Brown headed to an art gallery appearance after leaving the "GMA" studio. He tweeted, "I'm so over people bring this past s*** up! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for [their] bulls***."

Brown's fans continued to stand by him throughout the day.

Late Tuesday night at his album release party, fans voiced their support.

"We're all human, we all make mistakes. It happens," one fan said.

In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault stemming from an altercation with Rihanna and was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community service. His probation was downgraded in February to a restraining order mandating that he stay 10 yards away from Rihanna.

"I was wrong for what I did and I would definitely say that it's not something that I look past or look over. It's something that's really, really touchy. And like I said, I'm really sorry for what went down and what happened," Brown told Roberts in 2009.