Rihanna responds to Chris Brown's controversial tattoo by sporting a metal teeth grill Rihanna Tickets

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Rihanna has responded to Chris Brown's recent controversial tattoo by sporting a gold metal grill.

The singer was pictured leaving a restaurant in Santa Monica, California with the mouth accessory on Tuesday night (September 11) just weeks after Brown was spotted wearing the same item.

The move comes on the same day Brown endured a huge online backlash after people pointed out that a new tattoo on his neck bore a striking resemblance to a face with the same injuries that he inflicted upon the 'Talk That Talk' singer in 2009.

Brown and Rihanna separated after he assaulted her in February 2009 before a pre-Grammys party. Brown was sentenced to five years' probation for the attack. An unauthorised image of the singer bloodied and bruised shortly after the attack was later leaked to the media by Los Angeles Police Department, prompting an internal investigation.

The rapper is believed to have had the face of the woman, who appears to have a black eye and stitches on her lip, tattooed onto his skin before last week's MTV Video Music Awards.

Brown's representative has said that the ink is a Mexican-themed skull in commemoration of Dia de los Muertos, more commonly known as the 'Day Of The Dead'.

The representative added: "His tattoo is a sugar skull (associated with the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead) and a MAC cosmetics design he saw. It is not Rihanna or an abused woman as erroneously reported."

Brown and Rihanna were recently photographed kissing and hugging at the MTV Video Music Awards.

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