With Chris Brown’s arraignment on charges of assault and criminal threats delayed until April 6, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Thursday that the singer’s management team is working toward rehabbing his image with a possible deal with Rihanna.
According to Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker, Brown and Rihanna plan to co-author a book about abuse and appear together on a number of talk shows in a deal, which also reportedly includes a $10 million clause regarding Brown’s future actions toward her.
“[He’ll pay] as much as $10 million… if he as much as squeezes her arm the wrong way,” a source close to Brown reportedly told the columnist.
“Project Mea Culpa is the name that is apparently being used by his group,” Zwecker told Access Hollywood on Friday. “It’s what they’re calling it.”
He added that the noted clause represented a “commitment” from Brown.
“It’s obviously a kind of commitment from him to her that he was serious about the fact that this will never happen again,” Zwecker said.
However, in an e-mail to Zwecker acquired by Access, Michael Sitrick, a publicist hired by Brown in the wake of the Feb, 8 incident, called several elements of the columnist’s report “inaccuracies,” including the book deal and the $10 million contractual agreement.
When reached by Access on Friday, Rihanna’s attorney, Donald Etra, said he had “no knowledge” of such a deal. He offered no further comments.
During Brown’s hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, Etra was overheard telling Brown and his lawyer, Mark Geragos, that “Rihanna would like this over as quickly as possible.”
And in further news from Brown’s camp, a message was posted on what appears to be Brown’s MySpace blog on Thursday urging fans to vote for the singer in the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. He is nominated in two categories — Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Song, for “Kiss Kiss.”