Chris Brown is an American R&B singer whose name became internet slang for domestic abuse and a long-running Twitter pile-on target after his 2009 assault of Rihanna.

Where did Chris Brown come from?

The meme grew out of the February 8, 2009 assault on Rihanna, which was quickly followed by an Urban Dictionary verb entry and a MAD Magazine parody in March 2009.

What does Chris Brown mean?

As slang, 'to Chris Brown' someone means to beat them up, particularly a woman, per Urban Dictionary entries posted after the 2009 incident.

How do you use Chris Brown?

People use the verb in casual speech and post quote-reply burns to Brown's tweets in the style of Andy Levy's 2011 'You spelled punching wrong' reply, or Jenny Johnson's 2012 'worthless piece of shit' exchange.

Is Chris Brown still popular?

The meme kept flaring through the 2010s, with Brown's name trending worldwide again on January 22, 2019 after the Associated Press reported his detention in Paris on a rape complaint.

Chris Brown

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Published August 17, 2026

Chris Brown is an American R&B singer whose name became internet slang for domestic violence after his February 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, spawning a verb definition on Urban Dictionary and years of recurring Twitter pile-ons targeting the singer.

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Overview

Chris Brown is an American R&B singer whose name became internet slang for domestic violence following his February 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna1. Urban Dictionary entries define 'to Chris Brown' someone as beating a person up, particularly a woman4, and the phrase spread through Twitter and comment sections as shorthand for abusive behavior.

Beyond the verb, Brown grew into one of Twitter's most reliable pile-on targets through the early 2010s. Comedians turned dunking on him into a recurring bit2, and his own posts, from a widely criticized Halloween costume3 to hostile replies at critics, kept generating fresh viral moments across the platform.

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Origin & Background

Platform

News media / Twitter (viral spread)

Date

2009

On February 8, 2009, Rihanna was hospitalized after an argument with Brown escalated to physical violence and left her with visible facial injuries1. Brown surrendered to police later that day and was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats5. Within weeks the incident produced a 'Chris Brown' verb entry on Urban Dictionary defined as beating a woman4, and in March 2009 MAD Magazine ran a comic titled 'You're a Bad Man, Chris Brown!' that recast the singer as a violent Charlie Brown5. Companies including the Wrigley Jr. Company, the Milk Mustache campaign and Sesame Street quickly cut ties with him5.

How It Spread

On August 17, 2011, Fox News commentator Andy Levy replied to a Brown tweet about the planking fad with 'You spelled punching wrong'5. The one-liner picked up more than 11,800 retweets over the following year, and a video of Levy sarcastically apologizing on Fox News hit two million views on YouTube5.

The pile-ons kept coming. On November 1, 2012, Brown posted an Instagram photo of himself and friends dressed as Middle Eastern terrorists for Halloween, drawing sharp criticism from Vibe and other outlets3. Later that month, on November 25, 2012, comedy writer Jenny Johnson replied to Brown's 'I look old as fuck' tweet by calling him 'a worthless piece of shit,' triggering a graphic, misogynistic reply thread from Brown that ended with him deleting his Twitter account2.

The mockery outlasted the Twitter fight. In November 2012, Redditor krillokrokodil posted photos to /r/WTF of Stockholm concert posters vandalized with an image of Rihanna's beaten face, pulling over 23,700 upvotes5. On January 22, 2019, the Associated Press reported that Brown had been detained in Paris on a rape complaint, pushing his name back to worldwide trending on Twitter as defenders and critics again fought over his record1.

How to Use This Meme

The most common form is the verb usage popularized on Urban Dictionary, where people say someone got 'Chris Browned' to describe a beating4. On Twitter, the recurring template is the Andy Levy style quote-reply that reframes an innocuous Brown post as a reference to the 2009 assault5. Replies typically punch back at a specific tweet with a one-line burn tying it to his history rather than a standalone image or copypasta.