Chris Brown detained in Paris after rape claim

American R&B star Chris Brown is being questioned by police in Paris after being accused of rape, sources close to the inquiry told AFP on Tuesday.

A woman has accused Brown, along with his bodyguard and a friend, of raping her in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Paris on Tuesday night last week, a source close to the case said on condition of anonymity.

He is also being questioned over a suspected drugs offence, the source said.

French celebrity magazine Closer broke the news earlier Tuesday, saying the 24-year-old woman had met the star in a nightclub near the Champs-Elysees before agreeing to go back to his hotel suite.

Le Figaro newspaper had reported earlier that Brown, who has a history of violence, was in the French capital attending shows during men’s fashion week.

Brown was convicted in 2009 of beating fellow singer Rihanna, who was then his girlfriend and was forced to miss the Grammy Awards because of her injuries.

In 2016, he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon following a standoff with Los Angeles police, after a woman said he threatened her at his home.

He also pleaded guilty to assaulting a fan in Washington in 2014 and was accused of violence by a woman in Las Vegas.

Brown was discovered by record label scouts when he was a boy working at his father’s gas station in the US state of Virginia.

First identified as a rapper, he then found success with his rich singing voice, but he has been in the news more often in recent years for his legal troubles.

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