Chris Brown says his planned Michael Jackson tribute performance at tonight’s American Music Awards has been nixed for “reasons unknown” — and his fans are furious.
On Saturday morning, the singer posted a video on Instagram of himself rehearsing for the AMAs. He captioned the post: “U Serious?”
The footage begins with Brown and two women performing a sensual routine to his new single “Under The Influence.” Moments later, male dancers take center stage and the music transitions into Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Brown joins the dancers and they recreate Jackson’s choreography from the music video, before segueing into the King of Pop’s hit singles — “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin,'” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.”
Related Story: Chris Brown Vents About Not Being Invited to Perform on Awards Shows
Brown later returned to the comments section of the post to break a bit of bad news to his followers.
“Would’ve been the AMA performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown,” he wrote.
The singer’s fans filled the post with thousands of comments, and some vowed to boycott Sunday’s AMAs.
“Oh yeah? Then watch us activate cancel culture on their @$$#$,” one person replied.
“Let’s boycott,” someone else wrote.
“I hope their ratings sink to the ocean floor over this. I will not be tuning in,” another fan posted.
“No need to watch. You were the only one I wanted to see anyway,” someone else wrote.
Urban Hollywood 411 contacted the AMAs press office for comment, but so far we haven’t heard back.
This month marks the 40th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking 1982 album Thriller, which sold over 30 million copies.
The AMAs are also marking a milestone — with the show turning 50. To celebrate, producers have announced a lineup of performers spanning multiple music genres, including Ari Lennox, Bebe Rexha, Glorilla, Lil Baby, David Guetta, Stevie Wonder and P!NK.
The show will honor 17-time AMA winner Lionel Richie with the Icon Award. As part of the presentation, Stevie Wonder and Charlie Puth are performing a medley of Richie’s hit songs.
Hosted by Wayne Brady, the 2022 American Music Awards air live from the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.
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