(Warning: Language in seventh paragraph may be offensive to some readers)
By Ian Simpson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown pleaded not guilty on Monday to a charge of misdemeanor assault as a result of a fight on Sunday outside a Washington hotel, the latest legal run-in for the Grammy-winner.
Brown, 24, was arrested early on Sunday outside the upscale W Hotel, a few hundred yards from the White House. Another man involved in the fight, Christopher Hollosy, 35, described in court documents as Brown's bodyguard, was also arrested and charged with assault.
Brown faces a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.
Brown, known for hits including "Deuces" and "Look at Me Now," appeared handcuffed in District of Columbia Superior Court, where a defense lawyer entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.
The judge set a preliminary hearing for November 25.
A Metropolitan Police Department incident report said two women asked Brown to be in a photo with them outside the hotel. He objected when Parker Adams, 20, of Beltsville, Maryland, tried to get in the picture.
"I'm not down with that gay shit," Brown said, according to the report. "I feel like boxing."
Brown, in Washington for a nightclub appearance on Saturday, punched Adams in the face, and Hollosy did the same, according to the report. Hollosy then pulled Brown by the arm to the singer's tour bus, the report said.
Adams had "swelling and bruising to the nasal area" with apparent broken bones, the report said. Medics took him to a hospital for treatment.
Brown has been on probation since 2009 after assaulting pop singer Rihanna, his then-girlfriend. Brown's probation was revoked over the summer after he was charged in a hit-and-run traffic accident in Los Angeles, but reinstated after he agreed to another 1,000 hours of community labor.
The Los Angeles District Attorney's office has accused Brown of cutting corners on his community labor sentence, which he was allowed to complete in his home state of Virginia.
(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Ken Wills)