R&B singer Tamar Braxton is defending her sister, the legendary Toni Braxton, after a video surfaced online showing Toni refusing to touch Chrisean Rock’s hand during a group prayer.
Chrisean has faced immense criticism for her behavior after she attended Tamar’s concert last month and caused an uproar, including the allegation that she assaulted one of Tamar’s backup singers, James Wright Chanel.
The footage of the prayer circle is reportedly from the night that she assaulted Chanel. In the video, Tamar holds Toni’s hand while she prays. However, the prayer is interrupted as Chrisean Rock walks into the room and beelines for the space between Tamar and Toni.
Toni’s reaction is what has gone viral as the “Un-Break My Heart” singer seems shocked and frightened. She immediately goes back to prayer and bows her head, but instead of holding Chrisean’s hand, she places her hand behind her back. Chrisean then tries to hold Toni’s elbow while her hand remains behind her.
Rock also appears surprised by Toni’s actions. After the prayer, there is also a weird exchange between Toni and Chrisean as she steps back and seemingly pats her on the shoulder while Tamar hugs her.
On live video, Tamar stepped up to defend Toni, who has lupus, a serious autoimmune disease that affects the immune system. Her sister shared that contact with unsanitary things and people could jeopardize her health.
“Toni’s not going to say nothing. And the last time somebody said something about me everybody about me somebody said don’t defend yourself but today is the day, so we gonna finally talk about it,” Tamar said.
She said her immediate staff was in the dressing room as they usually pray before the show. However, it seems that Rock was not invited to the intimate space.
“So, when Chrisean walked in, the reason my face looked like ‘what’ is because who is it and why wasn’t nobody stopped at the door? And two, Toni and Chrisean did not know why each other was, so Toni was like who is this person coming in between me and my sister… first of all, my sister has lupus, an autoimmune disorder. If I get sick, if you get sick, it’s no big deal, if she gets sick she goes to the hospital so what she not finna do is touch a stranger’s hand, embrace a stranger, she don’t know Chrisean from adam and so when she walked in, she startled everyone,” Tamar said.
The “Love and War” singer also added that it was a surprise for her, as that was the first time she met Chrisean.
Tamar said she was addressing the incident because persons were trying to “sell stories” as she addressed Chrisean’s denial that she did not hit James.
Tamar revealed a video of someone wiping James’ face and nose and showing his teeth were chipped.
“Is that the hit that we made up? Now James is my best friend, and I would never do him [like that] look at my baby lip. At this point, it has gotten above and beyond out of control. Nobody is lying on nobody, nobody want no clout over nobody, that was the legendary Toni Braxton,” she said, lashing out at previous claims by Chrisean, who said she was invited by Tamar, who wanted her clout.
In a post written on Instagram, Tamar added, “I’m OVER it!!! Coming for my sister who has lupus and don’t even really come outside was the line for me. This is so traumatic.”
Many people have defended Chrisean Rock, with some believing that she did not put her hands on James. Others, however, after seeing the evidence, had a change of mind.
“The lack of y’all holding rock accountable is scary,” one person wrote on Instagram.
“For the geniuses asking what LUPUS has to do with it. Anyone with LUPUS has an extremely weak immune system. A simple cold can keep them down for a month and even put them in the hospital. So, Toni more than likely has people sanitize before they touch on her etc. You can tell who was asleep in school,” another added.
“Toni been up in Aretha and Patti Labelle house, she IS NOT out here watching Chrisean on Zeus. That’s a whole stranger to her and she not touching a stranger’s nasty hand period,” another added.
