Chris Brown is accused of punching a photographer at a Florida nightclub, with video appearing to show part of the incident.
The troubled 'Kiss Kiss' hitmaker carried out the alleged assault on the AJA Channelside club photographer during a paid visit to the venue early on Monday morning (local time).
Brown arrived around 1am and is said to have become angry when photos were being taken, leaping over a couch and striking the man in his face.
The photographer says he was just doing his job, didn't do anything wrong and is seeking legal action, with lawyers telling him he has a "pretty good case".
"I was trying to get crowd shots... [Brown] stood up and started yelling some stuff. His security - everywhere I looked, a security guard popped up on me,"
"Once his security all came really close to me, he jumped up and took a swing at me. He hit me in my lip... when he hit me, my head kind of hit the wall.
"My head hurts, my jaw hurts. I tried to go to work this morning but I kept having a headache and they told me to go and get checked out."
Video obtained by TMZ.com appears to show part of the altercation.
Police were called to the club after the incident but Brown and his entourage are said to have left before they arrived.
The AJA Channelside's Facebook page posted a message to its patrons slamming Brown over the attack.
One of the club's partners told media it is trying to get its money back off Brown, saying he was paid US$30,000 for the contractually mandated, one-hour minimum appearance - but only spent about five minutes there before the alleged assault.
"Obviously we're going to try to get our money back, but there was nowhere in the contract that said we couldn't take pictures, that would be stupid for us - it makes no sense to book an artist for that much money and not take pictures," the unnamed partner told Billboard.com.
"I was onstage with him [Brown] and our photographer who was in the DJ booth behind the stage, and he was doing his job taking pictures when [Brown's] security tried to grab him and then Chris punched him a couple times.
"He [the photographer] had a cut on his lip afterwards and we called the police right after and they [Brown's entourage] left the club right after... within two minutes."
Brown has a history of violent outbursts, most notably when he savagely bashed then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.
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