Shortly before the show began at 5 p.m. at Staples Center downtown, Grammy officials issued a statement that said, "We have just been informed Rihanna will not be attending tonight's 51st Grammy Awards. Rihanna will not be performing. We are sorry to see she is unable to join us this evening."
Nearly two hours into the show, not long before Brown turned himself in, Grammy officials released a similar statement regarding Brown's cancellation.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 37 words Type of Material: Correction
Chris Brown troubles: In some copies of Monday's Calendar section, an article about Chris Brown being arrested in an alleged assault case on Sunday stated that he is a native of Tappahannock, Wash. Tappahannock is in Virginia.
Brown arrived at the Wilshire station about 7:15 p.m. accompanied by his attorney, Mark Geragos, and the attorney's investigator, Scott Ross. They drove into a parking lot behind the police station on Venice Boulevard just east of La Brea Avenue in a black vehicle. Brown and the men entered through a back door, where a sign stated "authorized personnel only."
At Staples Center
News of the episode sent a shudder through Staples Center, with reports rippling through the place via Twitter, iPhone and BlackBerry.
"I'm hearing some mixed things about what happened," "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul said Sunday at Staples. "All I can say is I hope Rihanna heals quickly. She's a lovely girl."
Rihanna had three Grammy nominations going into Sunday's awards and Brown had two. He was to perform his hit "Forever," a smooth dance-floor workout about everlasting love, including the line: "It's you and me moving at the speed of light into eternity."
They were both nominated in the pop vocal collaboration category; Rihanna with rock group Maroon 5 for "If I Never See Your Face Again," Brown for his duet with "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks on the track "No Air" from Sparks' debut album. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss took the award, for "Rich Woman."
A publicist for the Barbados-born Rihanna, who has sold more digital song downloads than any other artist in 2008, with nearly 10 million tracks, said Sunday night, "Rihanna is well. Thank you for concern and support." Her whereabouts after the incident were not known.
Her song "Disturbia," which she'd been scheduled to perform at the ceremony, was the sixth bestselling digital track of the year, with sales of almost 2.8 million copies. Her performance slot was given to Green, who was joined by country singer-guitarist Keith Urban during the hastily arranged rendition of Green's 1971 hit "Let's Stay Together."
