Rihanna and Chris Brown Defend Tattoos as Art, No 'Romantic Ties' At All

Megastars (not to mention former lovers) Rihanna and Chris Brown both bare a lot of ink. But when the "Don't Wake Me Up" singer debuted a new neck tattoo earlier this month, some fans felt rather perturbed by the fresh ink's eerie resemblance to Rihanna's battered face following the ex-couple's violent interaction back in 2009, where Brown was ultimately charged with domestic violence. But according to Drake's "no 1" enemy, the new tat design has nothing to do with RiRi - it is merely a representation of the Mexican sugar skull which celebrates the Day of the Dead.

Responding to all the ink hoopla, 23-year-old Brown tweeted on Tuesday:

@chrisbrown: "I'm an artist and this is art. Dia de los Muertos [Day of the Dead]."

Check out a pic of the controversial tat here.

Brown's publicist confirms to E! News that the tattoo is based off an image of "a sugar skull [associated with the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead] and a MAC cosmetics design he saw."

E! News also got in touch with the tattoo artist himself Peter Koskela, who reaffirms that he created Brown's tat of "a sugar skull based on the MAC design that Chris brought me."

Funny enough, Rihanna also premiered some new ink earlier this week, a winged Egyptian goddess embellished across her upper chest in remembrance of her grandmother. While some insinuate that the design and location are very similar to a tattoo already sported by ex-beau Brown, Rihanna tweeted:

@rihanna: "Goddess Isis -- Complete Woman -- Model for future generations -- #GRANGRANDOLLY. Always in and on my heart."