The fan who had her neck grabbed by Chris Brown as he performed a lap dance on stage has spoken out after the singer was slammed for his behavior. Brown, 33, is currently touring around Europe on his Under the Influence tour, and during a show in Manchester in the UK this week, the R&B star raised a few eyebrows. As has become his trademark, the 33-year-old selects a woman from the crowd to come up on stage and receive a lap dance from him while singing his hit 'Take You Down'. During this particular show, he plucked 23-year-old former Love Island contestant Natalia Zoppa from the crowd and many were left uncomfortable by how he was <a href="https://vt.co/entertainment/chris-brown-blasted-after-grabbing-fans-neck-on-stage">grabbing her neck</a>. [[tiktokwidget||https://www.tiktok.com/@rikiekelly/video/7210528096397643013]] A video of the dance was uploaded to TikTok and quickly gained millions of views, with some taking to the comments to express their outrage at Brown putting his hand on Zoppa's throat. The video even caught the attention of another former Love Island star Malin Andersson, who tweeted: "Don’t like Chris Brown. I ain’t forgetting what he did to Rihanna. Man’s still got it in him, putting his hands on girls throat on stage. Ugh. Sickening." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/MissMalinSara/status/1636802058689957888]] Other viewers of the TikTok video took issue with Brown, and many referenced when he physically assaulted his ex-girlfriend, singing superstar Rihanna, in 2009. It would seem, however, that Zoppa thinks that the outrage around what happened on stage this week is misplaced as she opened up to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11872205/Natalia-Zoppa-defends-Chris-Brown-says-happy-rapper-held-throat.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail</a> about the incident. The former Love Island star claims that she was "happy" to be involved and knew about the routine and that it was a possibility that she could be selected. "Why are people assuming the worst? It's actually annoying. I loved every minute of it," Zoppa told the outlet. "I've seen previous dances he's done, and I knew what the routine was. I was more than happy to participate." Zoppa then referenced the concern around Brown seemingly grabbing her throat, as she stated: "He barely even grabbed me." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm4hapENdvo/]] Critics of the dance claim that Brown was displaying "controlling behavior" and sexualizing violence. Brown has been open about his violent past, and in a 2017 documentary, he opened up about his assault on Rihanna and how he now feels remorse over the incident. "I look back at that picture and I'm just like: that's not me. I hate it to this day - that's going to haunt me forever," he said via <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/17/chris-brown-discusses-abuse-of-rihanna-i-felt-like-a-monster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a>. In 2017 Brown was handed a restraining order and told he could no longer contact his former partner Karrueche Tran, who he had been dating off and on since 2009, as per <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/chris-brown-given-restraining-order-over-threat-to-kill-karrueche-tran-10777360" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sky News</a>. Brown reportedly punched Tran in the stomach, pushed her down the stairs, and threatened to kill her a number of years before the order was put in place. <img class="size-full wp-image-1263201393" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/03/2JFCAPJ-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="1708" height="2560" />[[imagecaption|| Brown has been accused of "sexualizing violence" with his performances on stage. Credit: James Manning / Alamy]] It wasn't until Brown allegedly sent threatening texts to his former girlfriend that she applied for the restraining order. Shortly after the assault in 2009, Rihanna opened up to <a href="https://www.mtv.com/news/qt5r8i/rihanna-details-chris-brown-assault-in-2020-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20/20</a> about the terrifying ordeal, stating that her former boyfriend had threatened to kill her. "All I kept thinking was, 'When is it going to stop?' The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other, equally as dangerous," she said at the time. <h6>Featured image credit: dpa picture alliance / Alamy</h6>

Fan whose neck Chris Brown grabbed on stage speaks out after backlash

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