Chris Brown has denied suggestions that his new tattoo portrays the bruised face of his ex-girlfriend, Rihanna. The inked sketch "is art", he said, intended to represent a Mexican sugar skull.
"I'm an artist and this is art," Brown tweeted. His publicist also released a statement, dismissing the suggestion that Brown's tattoo is a reference to Rihanna, whom Brown attacked in 2009. "His tattoo is a sugar skull (associated with the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead) and a MAC cosmetics design he saw," they said. "It is not Rihanna or an abused woman as erroneously reported."
Brown's tattoo was first spotted on 1 September, a week before he and Rihanna were seen kissing at the MTV VMAs. It clearly shows a woman's face, distorted with curlicues and crosshatching: although she happens to resemble Rihanna, it does also recall the traditional makeup for the Day of the Dead.
In February 2009, Brown assaulted Rihanna in his car, punching and biting her in the face and limbs. The singer required stitches. Brown later pleaded guilty to the assault and was sentenced to one year's probation. "I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help," Rihanna said in August, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. "He was my first love. Now we're very close friends. And that's not anything we're going to try to change."
