Really folks? Really? An over dramatic, on cue and extremely convenient breakdown, some fake tears during a Michael Jackson tribute and now all is forgiven with Chris Brown now? Iâll give it to Brown; he finally got a PR team worth their money.  I really shouldnât say âall is forgivenâ because contrary to popular belief this isnât about forgiveness. No, this isnât about judging or forgiving. Chris Brown didnât harm me or any of my family and therefore he doesnât need my forgiveness. But as a commentator on social and political issues, itâs within my right to voice my displeasure with letting someone who committed such a vicious crime, go right back to their job making millions doing something that is a privilege. Itâs within my right to point out the glaring hypocrisy of showing him leniency solely because this young man is a celebrity. I donât question his talent. But being talented shouldnât be a reason for excusing bad behavior. Yet we seem to do it every day. YES, allowing him to perform is excusing his behavior. Singing and dancing is a privilege. There should be a certain amount of responsibility that comes with that. But for the purpose of our own entertainment, we ignore that. And it is for that reason why Iâm done shaking my head in disgust at Chris Brown. Now I’m ironically looking at the man (people) in the mirror.
See Chris Brown’s not the problem. No, the problem is larger than Chris Brown and itâs with us. We put celebrities on these pedestals that they need not be on and then when they come crashing down to earth, showing themselves to be nothing more than pathetically flawed mortals, we donât want to believe it. We donât like seeing celebrities back down at our level and accepting the same rules that we do. So we say âoh theyâre human, they deserve a second chance (and a third and a fourth and aâŚ)â knowing very well we wouldnât be saying that if they were just normal people. And we do it to everyone with celebrity status.
If Chris Hansen did a show called âTo Catch a Woman Beaterâ and a bunch of regular everyday folks were caught in a sting, most people would be calling for their heads. There would be no talk of âwell they are humanâ or âthey deserve a second chance.â No, there would be calls for them to be thrown immediately in jail and to be permanently tattooed as a wife beater for the rest of their lives. If someone found out their childâs teacher was arrested for beating his wife, I highly doubt theyâd be happy with him being back in the classroom. Yet itâs cool to let our young children watch Chris Brown, R. Kelly and a bunch of other morally/criminally corrupt people solely because they are celebrities and âsang & dance goodâ. And before you tell me Iâm exaggerating, the truth is, this has already happened. How many people still support Robert Kelly because âwell I can separate his personal problems from his musicâ or âBut heâs so talentedâ but then are screaming at the guys on To Catch a Predator to have their balls removed? Weâre disgusted at the doctors, lawyers, priests and teachers caught in those stings but then turn around and âStep in the name of love.â Weâre pathetic.
In order to earn back respect, prestige and the âforgivenessâ of others, true remorse and reflection of ones own actions isnât required.  Iâve narrowed it down to three requirements: Momma, God and tears.  A lot of times just one of these is sufficient, but in truly egregious cases (as with most celebrity fuck ups) you need a combination of all three. Take Chris Brown. He first brings his mother out on Larry King. +1 for Chris Brown. Then thereâs the constant that every celebrity relies on, God. When you bring in religion, you win with people automatically. Itâs why every celebrity who wins an award, no matter what morally bankrupt thing theyâve done or are planning on doing thanks Jesus at the podium. Itâs why politicians claim to be renewing their faith when the scandal breaks that they were cheating on their wifeâŚwith a man. Sure itâs lip service but it works. Say âGodâ or âJesusâ or âFaithâ and a lot of people automatically cease to question. Then there are tears and last night Chris Brown provided those. Thatâs all most people really needed. They needed tears to âfeelâ that he was remorseful, never mind the fact that tears can be faked. And itâs not just Chris Brown. Look at Tiger Woods. He had his mother, Buddha and tears. Kanye WestâŚmother, God and tears. The list goes on and on. This pattern is so frighteningly consistent I believe every PR firm in L.A. has âMomma, God and Tearsâ written on a board somewhere in their office. What I haven’t figured out is if most people know they are being taken as fools and are just playing along or if they really have fallen for it.
Iâm beginning to realize that it false to claim humans have no natural predators. Our natural predators are other human beings. We feed on the gullibility and sympathy of other humans. People want to believe and therefore we sometimes sacrifice the truth in front of us because we donât 
want to see it. People donât want to believe that their favorite celebrity is a privileged jackass whose tears flow on command because they want to protect their revenue stream. That reality is too harsh for many to believe so we put faith in the fantasy. Faking a breakdown in front of millions solely to earn back fans to rescue horrendous album sales is too cold and calculating to believe. So people swallow the blue pill and keep living the dream. Iâd ask that people fight to unplug themselves from the Matrix but letâs be honest, reality sucks. And Iâm beginning to realize some people donât want to face that.
I notice the names (R. Kelly/Chris) you mentioned are male.
Women don’t get the same leniency.
yeah they do. Brandy, Britney, etc. Remember Paris Hilton’s breakdown after being in jail for 30 minutes (if that). Then there’s the queen of second chances, Lindsey “do i still have coke on my nose” Lohan.
I guess we should also stop listening to the majority of rap music too since most of them were morally corrupt drug dealers. Where do we draw the moral line?
Alicia Keys is morally bankrupt too. She dates a married man & flaunts her pregnant belly on top of her piano.
So what you’re saying is we should never forgive people that do wrong? He beat one woman and he’s a woman beater? Yet there are women who go around everyday thinking its okay to hit men as much as they want. You should “thank God” that you don’t live in Iran. Do you know how many mistakes you’ve made in the past that you could have been stoned to death or had limbs amputated for?
B, get clear and use your head. Forgiveness is grace, and very needed in this world for a million reasons.
Chris Brown is not one of them. If you do not see the calculated effort of this jackass to keep his privileged career intact, then keep spending your money on him. We can’t stop you. If you see his attacks on the stores that don’t want to stock his albums as justified, the women who picket him because he did get off with a slap on the wrist as haters, his rants on Twitter that he’s being railroaded…..if it is not clear to you that this twit is molding himself as the victim here, then by all means, continue buying his products.
It’s your right. You are allowed. But, we get to keep calling you a naive douchebag that is enabling a very skewed person even further. It’s my belief that people like you are definitely NOT helping Chris Brown, except making him richer. Which, in the big picture, isn’t remotely the type of help he needs.
AMAZING…..I LOVE YOUR ARTICLE….THANK YOU U HIT THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD……I CANNOT BELIEVE PPL ARE SO GULLIBLE….U SHOULD HEAR THE COMMENTS ABOUT RIHANNA, THEY ARE STILL BLAMING HER…SMMFH
I think what bothers me most is that Michael Jackson was a victim of abuse. And here we have a known abuser honoring him. Using him to regain his fame, to repair his tarnished image. Disgusting.
As I said it’s not about forgiveness. It’s about rewarding a jackass. Its not my place to forgive him. But it’s within my right to call a spade a spade.
As for most rap music, there’s a reason I don’t support them by buying their music, going to their concert or watching their videos.
Well written article. Standing Ovation. The same people who are saying forgive Chris Brown are the same ones who continue to defame Rihanna’s character. May I just say what a bunch of hypocrites they are. By hating on Rihanna and defaming her name you continue to victimize her. Let me reiterate well written article. Your mother must be so proud of you.
You claim that celebs aren’t perfect and yet somehow CB is suppose to be immune to crumpling under the pressure of 1 year+ of scrutiny while millions of people are staring him down as he sings man in the mirror? It’s impossible that he was really crying because he’s not human, he’ a celebrity. Which is it?
Also, maybe everyone would be a lot less emotionally charged if we just stopped caring so much about celebrity’s personal lives? Just because TMZ has cameras everywhere doesn’t mean I have to gobble up every piece of gossip they throw at me. This is the same reason Michael became a recluse in the last years of his life and died alone, drug addicted and miserable. Yeah Chris hit Rhianna, but I can just about guarantee there are skeletons in other celebs closets that they’ve been very careful about hiding. But you know what? I don’t care…I don’t like Chris Brown because he’s a stellar boyfriend. He’s a good singer and performer. He effed up, but it’s not my place to forgive him. He has himself to forgive, and so does rhirhi, her mama, Chris’ mama, his aunties and uncles and whoever else, but I don’t know him and the situation didn’t directly affect me. Can’t people just leave it at that instead of taking it upon themselves to “forgive” people when they weren’t even involved in the damn situation to begin with? Folks have forgotten where to draw the line and not only is it annoying, but it costs people their livelihoods.
ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE HOLDING THE GRUDGE FOR SOMETHING HE DIDNT EVEN DO TO YOU GET A FREAKING LIFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SERIOUSLY DID HE HIT YOU ARE DOES THIS PUNISHMENT ONLY INCLUDE CHRIS. JAMES BROWN BEAT HIS WIFE AND PUT HER IN THE HOSPITAL BUT PEOPLE STILL REMEMBER HIM WITH GREAT REPSECT IMAGINE THAT. PLEASE GET OVER IT ALREADY. HE IS A GREAT PERFORMER AND THATS ALL THAT MATTERS. YOU DONT HAVE TO SLEEP WITH HIM OR LIVE WITH HIM.WOMEN IT IS NOT OK TO HIT MEN AND THINK THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO TAKE IT. THIS DOUBLE STANDARD IS STUPID AND THE PEOPLE WHO IS STILL DWELLING OVER THIS PLEASE CHECK YOURSELF YOU MUST HAVENT BEEN LIVING IN THIS COUNTRY LONG IF YOU FEEL HE SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOREVER FOR THIS. GET A LIFE A NEW TOPIC AND WORRY ABOUT ALL THE DIRT YOU DO CAUSE I BET ITS WORSE THAN HIS. STOP HATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“He’s a great performer and that’s all that matters”.
Tami, you are a supremely superficial idiot.
The [insert celebrity name] did it and still we love them line is absurd. That shit doesn’t make it right. Again, this isn’t about forgiveness. If I beat my girlfriend I wouldn’t be able to go back to work. Yet because celebrities are who they are, we let them get away with it. You people are hypocritical. Not only that but reading your arguments I’m almost certain you didn’t read or comprehend anything I said. As I wrote, I doubt any of you would go to bat for one of those women beaters on Cops or a perv on To Catch a Predator. But when it’s a celebrity…stop the fucking presses. GTFOH
I read and thoroughly enjoyed your post. I completely agree with the things that you say. Singing and dancing is a privilege; I get so aggravated hearing Chris Brown complain about nobody selling his albums (or allowing him into their countries to perform) as a result of his fall from grace. You committed (and confessed to) a crime and you’re complaining about having the take responsibility — or dealing with the consequences — of your actions? FOH. That’s silly. It’s unfortunate that a young brother like Chris Brown is in the system — but what’s even MORE unfortunate is that he thought to beat his girlfriend up in the first place. Period. That’s the issue at hand, people – his culpability. It isn’t about who perpetuated whatever… I’m not even going into the “what-if” because this isn’t about anybody else’s actions but Chris Brown’s …and the people who excuse his behavior.
Having worked in the domestic violence arena, I’ve also seen women who are victims excuse the behaviors of their abusers, as well as the abusers’ supporters. There are social consequences attached for the actions that they perpetuate, too though. I think, though, that when certain celebrities commit these crimes there are far too many opinions involved and people overlook the very simple and basic facts of the matter. And that’s where celebridom affects our reactions to it, and our reactions to it – in turn – affect celebridom. The exceptions we make to reality are shitty. It sucks that this 19 year old kid is in the system but it sucks that he put himself there.
And that isn’t to say that people aren’t capable of changing or deserving of “forgiveness” — but don’t apologize to your fans, Chris — apologize for the crime that you committed and stop crying about having to deal with the consequences of the actions that you, yourself, confessed to. You’re not being treated unfairly.
twitter: @iamMEchelle
OMG… Thank you for writing this. People kill me with this stuff. Knowin dang well if Chris was a normal Joe he would be in jail. Why are people feelin sorry for him? He hasn’t suffered anything. He is still freakin rich, going clubbin, and sexin everyting in sight. Last time I check in my world if you are felon you will have a really hard time tryin to find a job, let alone still being a millionaire livin like you haven’t done anything wrong. I also would like to ask why are people sayin he’s not a woman beater cuz he only beat one woman one time. Dumbazz if I kill someone just one time, I am a killer.
People are such hypocrites. Had Rihanna been their sister, mother, or anybody in their family, the same people who are excusing him, would try to beat his ass to death. I am sick to death of people excuses…’oh, he is young,’ ‘oh, he is so talented.’ First, all abusers, molesters, murders start out young. What is your point? Secondly, being talented has NOTHING to do with committing a crime. You mean to tell me, talented people should be able to do whatever they want. He can’t even singer. SMDH @ the world we are living in. It will only get worse. I am only in my early 20s, so I will have to brace myself. WHEN he is on trial again for the same crime, what will you people say thing? Come on, letâs be real, it is inevitable. When you have everybody around you filling you head with what you only want to hear, excusing your heinous crimes and telling you that you did nothing wrong, you are bound to do it again. OJ anyone? I am all for second chances, but when you walk around like an un remorseful jack ass acting like the world owes you something, you become more than I can stomach.
if a man who hits a woman shouldn’t be able to make a living, the same should go for women. There’d be ALOT (damn near the majority) of women out there without jobs.
RD, its more than just hitting a woman. It’s beating her face in and then running from the scene. If a woman does that to a man, then yeah…lock her ass up in jail and don’t let her work her old 9-5 again.
@Kriss It did not seem like Paris was in jail 5 minutes when they released her due to âover-crowding.â SMDH. When you said Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan, it got me thinking. The big difference with mainstream media and the trashy blogs that are popping up everywhere is the fact that they do not try to âprotect their own.â When Britney was running around like an escaped mental patient, every magazine, tv show, mainstream blog, etc, was calling her out and saying her kids should be snatched from her. The backlash was remarkable and deserved. It is the same with Linsay. People, including myself, are tired of her shenanigans. I am sick of ALL celebrities walking around as if they are above everybody else and can get any with whatever they want to. If Lindsay were an average Joedette, she would be in jail by now. BTW, out of this entire well-written article, I cannot believe the only thing that bothered somebody was the fact you called out to males and no females. *sigh* #pointcompletelymissed
Chris Brown and R-kelly are in the same boat when he comes to doing unspeakable crimes and getting away with it.
What you are describing in your article are the main reasons Christians are Christians and why Jesus is lord ans savior. We must all forgive. And love. And move on. Look how angry you are because we decide to let him continue doing what he does. If you want me to hold grudges and judge people and take away priveleges, I am not down.
We humans make mistakes every day…but God (whomever yours is), continues to privelege us with life. Do I think we have messed up mentalities, yea…but let that man be. Let all yall, rkelly, alicia…let them be.
Let’s let all the criminals come live at your house.
Has it not occurred to you that we can let them be, and yet not continue to provide them their luxurious standard of living? Trying to get people to ‘decide’ not to purchase his product is not hating. I wish people would move on, and support other artists that are not women-beating, fame-seeking, jack-asses.
The main thing fans do to defend idiots like this is use DEFLECTION. Just like with the OJ Simpson trial. It became a black vs.white thing; when it should have just been about a man who may/may not have killed his wife. This is the reason you have people on here going on about dumb shit that has nothing to do with THIS case. It is a juvenile tactic but it works for them, I guess. This article is about CB being an arrogant SOB and stupid people making excuses for him. Get it? Only like-minded fools and women w/low standards would defend this boy.
@Kendra…See, this is the kind of hypocritical christian bs that gets on my nerves. I wonder how quick you would be to forgive if it happened to you. Wanting somebody to pay for their crimes doesn’t have a damn thing to do with holding grudges. Why do we have a justice system if we should just ‘let criminals be.’
I completely agree with you. You seem to be one of the only bloggers with some sense when it comes to this boy. If he was an everyday person, he would be in JAIL. If he was ugly people wouldn’t care to defend him either.
I don’t buy the “comeback” hype though. There is a big difference between verbal/twitter support and people actually spending their money to buy his albums,singles, getting his songs played way more on radio, and him being allowed on way more networks than BET. Until then I don’t buy it. I think a lot of the people suddenly on his jock again will be over it in a few weeks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_3KJdpP7o#t=3m30s
LLYOD TELLS CHRIS BROWN HE NEEDED TO CRY DURING HIS PERFORMANCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_3KJdpP7o#t=3m30s
*SIPS TEA*
CHRIS BROWN FAKE TEARS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_3KJdpP7o#t=3m30s
I think my issue with this post is that I don’t understand what action it is that you want people to take? Would you like Chris to be banned from making music? For how long? By whom? Record labels? Do you want record labels to have an across the board policy of not signing people with criminal pasts? Or do you want people to just not buy his albums or go to his shows? Would you like the public to always remember every celebrity’s crimes/bad histories? I just find this whole perspective to be impractical.
Punishing a 20 year old forever simply isn’t wise. We have a lot of people in this country who have done very very bad things. And like you said, they are prohibited from going back into the work force or otherwise being productive members of society in many cases. Overall, that has dire consequences in this country because people who are alienated from society become MORE violent and troublesome not less. Knowing this, society stil continues with a “lock’em up” mentality rather than a truly rehabilitative/reintegrated approach.
Most of your argument hinges on your view that being a celebrity or performing or being rich is a privilege. So Chris shouldn’t be allowed to have his dream job but he should be allowed to work? So basically, if you have a dream job, you should be banned from it if you commit a crime. But if you have a BS job like the post office it’s okay for you to go back to work because your life sucks anyway? I don’t think I’m clear on your position regarding how Chris should support himself going forward.
Overall, I’m not going to pretend like I’m going to even attempt to remember every celebrity’s sins. If i tried to do that I could never watch TV or listen to music. So once again, it’s not practical, nor is it effective to ostracize people, no matter their profession, because they did something bad.
To speak specifically to Chris, I think given his history with his mom and he and Rihanna’s history of slapping each other around, it’s difficult for him to understand why he’s being such a target. He has walked around for the past year COMPLETELY delusional. But that’s where the love and support of people with good sense comes in handy for those of who have it. Unfortunately, Chris didn’t have that and his actions revealed it. That doesn’t mean it’s too late for him to come to grips with what he did and understand why people are so angry with him.
By the way, as someone who was in an abusive relationship at the same age as Chris Brown and Rihanna I wouldn’t want my ex to be punished for the rest of his life as much as rehabilitated which I believe he is. He has a family now and as far as I know he’s not abusive to his wife or children. He never apologized or showed remorse for what he did. You wanna talk about a jackass. Chile please! lol
Banishment from music forever isn’t reasonable, however, let’s admit that throwing him back into the grind of the industry almost immediately after wasn’t going to change anything. I mean he was back to working on his album like a month after it happened. By the end of the year his album was out. That’s absurd. The postal worker who beats his wife, if convicted of a felony has a good chance of never working that job again. There are consequences for his action. I know if i got a felony, i’d be out of my dream job. Either we apply the standard evenly or we just admit that we’re hypocrites.
With celebrities, sex, drugs, criminal behavior is allowed by us, not because we want to see the person grow and succeed but because we want to be entertained. We’ve basically built the Roman Coliseum all over again. We watch people destroy their lives and those around them for our entertainment then we run in and pamper them and praise them in an effort to get them to do it all over again. it’s absurd.
Look at it this way. Take Chris Brown out the situation and add in Big Ben, Gilbert Arenas, LT or any of these other celebrity jackasses. We created this system of pampering the privileged. If we’re going to get outraged when they fuck up, then my thing, shouldn’t we at least try to hold them accountable? Else the outrage is pointless
I agree that Chris shouldn’t have been working on an album and the fact that he did that was destructive to him. Like you said “We watch people destroy their lives and those around them for our entertainment then we run in and pamper them and praise them in an effort to get them to do it all over again. itâs absurd.”
I would argue that that IS punishment. And in that sense, his job is not a privilege but more like a minefield for him to navigate. And he seems to be navigating it completely alone.
It sounds like we need to hold ourselves more accountable not just the celebrities and I know you would agree that there needs to be more direct accountability in society in general.
I thought about this this week watching everyone elevate Michael Jackson to sainthood. Michael was never ever ever ever held accountable for his fuck-ups. And now, if you even mention that, people treat you like a traitor. Anyway, I thought Chris Brown performing that tribute but was quite ironic, Michael was forgiven time and time again because he was such a great entertainer. So yeah we forgive and forget all the time in the interest of entertainment (and practicality as I mentioned before) and that’s why I can’t see making an example out of Chris.
Hopefully Chris doesn’t end up like Michael–at least the legal system gave Chris a reality check.
“I ain’t saying he did it, but I understand.” -Chris Rock referring to O.J.Simpson.
More specifically, i think they both abused each other and it got way out of hand as those type of things tend to do. Was Rihanna an innocent victim? Nope, not buying it. Am I a Chris Brown stan? Nope, not at all.
Oh, and that BET performance? Nice, but that “crying bit” at the end? Fail.
And, what is it with some of these dudes getting offended because people are calling Chris Brown out? It is like they think people are talking to them personally simply because Chris Brown is a ‘man.’ God, what idiots. If Chris represents you as a male, you are not only stupid but you also need to seek professional help. What a warped way to think. I will NEVER understand people who side with somebody simple because they share something so small as race/gender. The internet attracts some of the most ignorant and immature people.
I understand this is your point of view. I also understand that it’s completely naive to fall for his tears that could have been staged, but only Chris and God know the truth. However, i disagree 100%. I feel like it’s past time for people to let go and move on. No you don’t have to listen to his music if you don’t want to. By all means, don’t go to his concerts or buy his cd’s if you really think he hasn’t been “punished” enough. It’s your choice. But don’t reprimand the people who are ready to forgive him and listen to his music. All is not forgotten, no. And I, under no circumstances, promote domestic violence. It’s like you said, the man is talented. And I’m sick of listening to people like Wakka Flakka on my radio.
I totally understand that he committed a terrible act. But should he be sorry forever? At what point do we move on? He paid his debt. I know its not what you would have wanted him to receive but he did. And in most states for a first time offender he received far more harsh treatment than normal. They made an example out of him and rightfully so. But we as “do gooders” cant continue to slander him for his transgression. Regardless of occupation he still has to return to a sense of normalcy at some point.
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