Chris Brown detained in Paris on suspicion of rape

Update: Brown has since been released. His legal representative says a defamation suit will be filed against the accuser. And he also has come out with “This Bitch Lyin” t-shirts.

US singer Chris Brown has been arrested in Paris on suspicion of rape, French police say.

A 24-year-old woman alleges that the star assaulted her in a hotel suite in the city earlier this month. She reportedly told police that the pair met at a nightclub in central Paris, close to the Champs-Elysées, before they returned to the hotel.

The BBC has contacted the singer’s representatives for comment. French police are investigating the complaint.

Two other men, identified by French media as Brown’s bodyguard and a friend, have also been arrested.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at the luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel on 15 January.

This isn’t the singer’s first encounter with the law – he has a number of previous, high-profile convictions for violence.
He received five years probation for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Rihanna, in his car in 2009.

In 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman told police he had threatened her with a gun. He was later freed, and his lawyer said the accusations against Brown were “demonstrably false”.