CHRIS BROWN ATTEMPTS DAMAGE CONTROL! HIS INTERVIEW WITH MTV WILL AIR THE SAME DAY AS RIHANNA ON 20/20!

Chris Brown seems to be competing with Rihanna for attention, and will even air his dirty laundry the same day she’s set to open up about being assaulted by him.
Brown has taped a segment for MTV about the incident that’s set to air this Friday – the same day Rihanna appears on “20/20” to publicly speak on what happened for the first time. (The first part of the interview will air Thursday on “Good Morning America.”)

In the sit-down interview with MTV News' Sway, he addresses the February beating that led to him pleading guilty to a felony assault charge.

“My thoughts is like, ‘Why did it happen?’, like ‘What was I thinking?’, ‘What is wrong with you?’,” Brown reveals.

But he doesn’t seem to be dwelling on the assault. “My thoughts basically now is just, ‘Ok, How do we get past it?,’” Brown adds. “‘How do you, Chris, go from point A to point B? How do you learn from your mistake, turn it into a positive and help other people with this situation and at the end of the day become the person that you want to be?’”

News that Brown will appear on the 30-minute MTV special, set to start at 6 p.m., comes on the heels of news of Rihanna’s ABC interview with Diane Sawyer that airs in two parts Thursday and Friday.

"This can happen to me," Rihanna tells Sawyer. "It can happen to anyone."

The former couple kept a low profile after the assault, but both have new albums coming out. Rihanna’s “Rated R” will be released Nov. 20, while Brown follows with “Graffiti” on Dec. 8.