Chris Brown is still in damage mode this week, racing to save face in the midst of possibly career-killing allegations that the R&B singer assaulted girlfriend (and even bigger star) Rihanna.

That Brown’s father said last week that his son was “remorseful” would seem to indicate that Brown is guilty of something, and now Brown has reportedly hired PR miracle-worker Alan Nierob, who infamously represented Mel Gibson during the actor’s 2006 DUI flap.

Nierob handled that incident well, painting Gibson as a sympathetic, repentant victim of alcoholism, but his task seems harder this time: Gibson wasn’t accused of beating a woman, let alone one of the country’s biggest pop stars. [Angry Ape]