ABC DWTIS finale.
A “Dancing with the Stars” alum is feeling the heat following her latest collaboration.
Former Fifth Harmony singer Normani Kordei, who landed as the third-place finisher on DWTS season 24 alongside pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy, teamed up with Grammy-winning R&B singer Chris Brown for his new music video for the song “WE (Warm Embrace}.”
But, despite her smooth dance moves, Normani didn’t score high points with fans due to Brown’s troubled past.
GettyNormani attends Z100’s Jingle Ball in New York City in 2018.
According to USA Today, Brown has been accused of violence against women multiple times, including his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, who accused him of assault in 2009 and to which Brown pleaded guilty to a felony assault charge and was sentenced to five years probation. Brown publicly apologized to Rihanna in a video posted by TMZ, calling his behavior “inexcusable.”
“I am very sad and very ashamed of what I’ve done,” he said in 2009, “I have told Rihanna countless times, and I’m telling you today, that I am truly, truly sorry that I wasn’t able to handle the situation differently and better.”
Brown added that he was seeking help to ensure that what happened with Rihanna would never happen again. But in 2017, another ex-girlfriend accused Brown of threatening her, and as recently as 2021, the Grammy winner was accused of hitting a woman during an argument, USA Today reported. Brown was not charged in the battery case due to insufficient evidence against him, according to Rolling Stone.
Normani was Slammed By Some Fans For Her Collaboration With the Controversial Singer
In the new video from Brown’s upcoming “Breezy” album, Normani, 26, engaged in a steamy dance with the singer before getting into a swimming pool with him.
The DWTS finalist posted a clip of the video to her Instagram page that showed her steamy encounter with Brown. ”Surreal moment,” Normani captioned the clip. “thank you @chrisbrownofficial for trusting me. one for the f***ing books. WARM EMBRACE OUT NOW.”
But on social media, not everyone approved of Normani’s latest collaboration.
“Why are you in that man’s music video, why are you working with him, you’re four years into your miserable solo career with no album out, releasing music at the pace of an Internet Explorer search result and instead you do this,” one commenter tweeted to Normani.
“Normani is so talented – the fact that she hasn’t dropped an actual hit…and now this Chris Brown misstep…gonna be a struggled road to the top,” another agreed.
Others pointed to Brown’s past with Rihanna and noted that Normani was one of the first models for Rihanna’s fashion line, Savage X Fenty.
“Normani was savage x fenty’s first-ever brand ambassador in 2019. today, she dropped a music video with rihanna’s abuser, chris brown. i don’t think it’s the greatest look. and i know i’m not the only one who feels this way,” one commenter wrote.
Others defended Normani and called her dancing in the music video “beautiful.” And others wondered why Normani was being slammed when so many other artists have collaborated with Brown over the years – including Rihanna.
“So are people mad at Rihanna as well for collaborating with Chris Brown a few years after the incident? Leave Normani alone,” one fan tweeted.
Rihanna Has Publicly Forgiven Chris Brown & Says They’re Friends
GettyRihanna
In 2012, Rihanna told Oprah’s Next Chapter” that she had forgiven her ex.
“We’ve been working on our friendship again,” she said, via a clip shared on “Super Soul Conversations” podcast. “Now we’re very very close friends. We’ve built up a trust again, we love each other and we probably always will. …So the main thing for me is that he’s at peace. I’m not at peace if he’s a little unhappy.”
“I thought I hated Chris and I realized it was love was tarnished,” she added. “It looked like hate because it was ugly, angry, it was inflamed, it was tainted. And I realized that’s what it was, I had to forgive him because I cared about him still. “
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DWTS Finalist Slammed For Controversial Career Move