Chris Brown Appears on the ‘Today’ Show, Internet Reacts With Fury and Glee (Video)

In search of positive PR, the Today Show turned to Chris Brown.

With the new single “Fine China” on the way, the lightning rod hip hop star performed and sat down for an interview with beleaguered host Matt Lauer, who asked him both about his latest song and his controversial relationship with Rihanna. Brown, of course, delivered a bloody beating to the pop singing sensation on Grammy night 2009, and has been for many public enemy number one ever since.

STORY: Chris Brown Addresses Rihanna Assault, J.Lo Collaborations on Ryan Seacrest’s Radio Show

The defiant rekindling of their flame has incensed the public, and Lauer asked Brown, who pled guilty to felony assault for the act, what he had learned from the entire experience.

“I think it’s just me proving myself once again and also me just being a man, and knowing what I did wrong and never doing it again. As for as me and her concerned, she knows my heart and I know her heart. I’m not really focused on the negative, everything about is positive for me. I did my 52 weeks of counseling and learned it was absolutely wrong.”

Lauer asked if he had gone through therapy, and asked Brown if he was sure it would never happen again. The rapper laughed and said, “Absolutely not.”

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From there, Lauer and Brown discussed how the nation’s populace loves building celebrities up, tearing them down and then watching a comeback; the hip hop artist gave a shout out to his fans, who he says have been ultra-supportive of everything he’s done.

The interview was just the latest stop in his new (and latest) apology-promotion tour, as Brown addressed many of the same subjects on the radio with Ryan Seacrest last week.

As with everything Brown does, the segment drew quite a range of reaction online, from disgust with NBC for having him on to excitement that Brown was getting the spotlight. In fact, some ultra-loyal Brown fans were even angry that Lauer would ask him about the assault, as evidenced by the Twitter reaction below.

For Today, the Brown segment comes exactly one week after hosting a conservative filmmaker who defended the late, ex-Penn State coach Joe Paterno broadcast a clip of his prison interview with convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky.

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