Lionel Richie, 77, apologized after slamming Chris Brown and Usher’s R&B Tour during his own concert in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 12.
The “All Night Long” singer was performing at Footprint Center when he took aim at the younger stars’ co-headlining stadium run.
Richie told the crowd that Brown, 37, and Usher, 47, were “trying to do something new.”
He continued: “Commodores and Earth, Wind & Fire, we were doing that back 40 years ago.”
Then came the jab that drew gasps.
“Only difference is, between then and now, we didn’t go to jail!,” Richie said.
The audience reaction was mixed.
He quickly walked it back.
“We’re fine Christian men, fine Christian men. Fine Christian men, that’s right,” Richie added.
He also took a shot at modern social media culture.
“See, we didn’t have that Instagram and that TikTok and that go out and tell a lie and they go and post it,” he said.
Reports said that Richie delivered the apology with “a slick smile on his face.”
The R&B Tour kicked off in Denver on June 26 and spans 40 North American dates.
Brown and Usher’s shows have repeatedly gone viral for their provocative fan interactions.
In the viral moment that fueled much of the online backlash, Brown performed his song “Take You Down” with a fan brought onstage at a sold-out stadium.
He straddled the woman before lifting her legs into the air.
The routine included highly suggestive movements in front of thousands.
Many viewers said it crossed a line.
“There’s being a performer, and then there’s straight-up simulating sex on a mattress in front of thousands of people. It’s completely inappropriate for a stadium concert,” one user wrote on X.
Another added: “It was painful and uncomfortable to watch.”
Usher, 47, has faced his own controversies during the tour.
At his Nashville show in July, he invited fan Gabrielle Cheyenne onstage for his signature serenade.
She was pulled off stage minutes later.
“First off NOBODY is declining to go on stage,” Cheyenne wrote on Facebook afterward.
Fans had questioned why she didn’t simply refuse the invitation.
Richie’s comments put him in the middle of a generational divide in R&B performance styles.
The Commodores legend has been touring with Earth, Wind & Fire on his own “Sing a Song All Night Long Tour.”
That run has not been without incident either.
Richie became dizzy and ended a concert early earlier in the summer, leading to hospitalization.
He recovered and continued the tour.
The R&B Tour represents one of the biggest joint outings in the genre in years.
Live Nation is producing the stadium run.
Brown’s history includes a 2009 felony assault conviction involving Rihanna.
He has faced multiple legal issues in the years since.
Usher has largely avoided major legal troubles throughout his career.
The tour continues through late summer and fall.
Brown and Usher have not publicly responded to Richie’s remarks.
Richie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
He has won four Grammy Awards over his decades-long career.
The “Hello” singer has been performing live consistently since the late 1990s.
His current tour features hits from both his solo catalog and his Commodores era.
The R&B Tour’s next scheduled stop is in Atlanta.