Russell Simmons: 'Give Chris Brown a break'

Russell Simmons has urged the media and the American public to forgive Chris Brown for his mistakes.

Writing on his official website, the hip hop mogul compared Brown - who recently caused controversy after a violent outburst on the set of Good Morning America - to other young stars who "pay the price" for youthful transgressions later in life.

"Chris is suffering from the same thing as almost every young star has gone through, including the Disney kids, and, having lost control, some of these young artists, sometimes, do an unspeakable thing at a moment of time. And they pay the price," he wrote.

"But, as I and my team have said repeatedly on my site GlobalGrind.com, what's not fair is artists paying the price of the sins in their young lives for the rest of their lives. Again, and again, and again."

Simmons continued to defend Brown, insisting that both the GMA run-in as well as his 2009 domestic assault against ex-girlfriend Rihanna were isolated incidents that are not indicative of who he is as a person.

"I'm just saying, give this man a break. I spoke to him last night for a long time and I know how good of a young man he is," he added.

"He's having the same type of struggles that all those other Disney kids have and all the other people who have instant fame... Because of that one regretful incident, no one will give him a break."