Lionel Richie fired some friendly shots at Chris Brown and Usher.
During the second-last stop of his Sing a Song All Night Long Tour in partnership with the legendary band Earth, Wind, & Fire on August 11, the 77-year-old music icon roasted Chris Brown and Usher’s joint R&B Tour, which kicked off in June.
“Usher and Chris Brown… See, they try to do something new,” Richie told the crowd at the Mortgage Matchup Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday. “The Commodores with Earth, Wind & Fire, we were doing that back 40 years ago!” he joked, noting that he didn’t need Instagram and TikTok to promote his music back in the day.
The multi-Grammy winner then took a direct shot at Brown’s legal troubles. “Only difference is, between then and now, we didn’t go to jail!”
However, Richie’s jab was seemingly in good fun, and he quickly apologised for the severity of the joke.
Brown himself took the joke well, dropping multiple laughing emojis under a viral video of the moment. “Damn unk. We love ya paw paw,” he added.
Brown’s legal troubles are well known, beginning with his 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna. He has been in and out of jail multiple times since then, and his most recent trip to jail was in May 2025 after he allegedly struck producer Abe Diaw with a bottle of tequila “several times” in 2023.
