AceShowbiz - Singer Raz B has backtracked over his apology to Chris Brown following their online war of words last week, insisting the "people around" him are to blame for sparking the heated Twitter.com exchange. The R&B stars became embroiled in a bitter feud after Raz-B posted a message on the microblogging site taking aim at the "Kiss Kiss" hitmaker's doomed romance with Rihanna.

Brown, who split from the "Umbrella" beauty in 2009 after a violent bust-up, hit back and the barbs continued to escalate, with former B2K singer Raz-B accusing his rival of being a "homophobe" - an allegation the star swiftly denied.

The pair subsequently apologized to one another - Raz-B blamed "anger" for his "direct attacks", while Brown vowed to "shut up" after learning his lesson from the fall out. But Raz-B stirred fresh controversy on Tuesday, January 4 when he alleged he wasn't responsible for the tweets criticizing Brown - claiming his team made him out to be the bad guy and insisting he only apologized to put an end to the scandal.

He says, "I must be honest with everyone! Like I sent a message to @Chrisbrown I honestly never tweeted that message to Chris! I did say something along the line however my respect for chris I would never do him like that (sic)! That's why I had to step up and make things right!"

"...People try real hard to tear you down! Look how the media try to do Chris! At the same time things shouldnt had been said (sic)! Its the people around me that started this! so please stop the hate mail (sic)."

Brown had yet to respond to Raz-B's comments as WENN went to press.