16 Feb CHRIS BROWN SPEAKS
After giving it some thought before I hit the keyboard, I blogged about this incident a few days ago with a call for discernment and compassion.
Chris Brown has released a statement about the events that occurred on Grammy Night.
“Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person. Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reported in the media is wrong. While I would like to be able to talk about this more, until the legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say except that I have not written any messages or made any posts to Facebook, on blogs or any place else. Those posts or writings under my name are frauds.”
Meanwhile, Rihanna’s father has spoken as well, saying, “she is OK” and that she will “take a stand for women”.
The legal outcome, and whether their relationship can weather the media sh*tstorm remain to be seen. The rush to judgment and escalation of falsehoods by the media, (especially those calling themselves news outlets) based on rumor is simply irresponsible. Maybe they should chill until they get some substantive evidence and real statements from those involved. But my assessment says that won’t happen.
Why would Chris or Rihanna’s people give any of these outlets an exclusive when they’ve treated this situation so sloppily? What happened to the journalists stars could trust to be objective reporters, even if that journalist disagreed with their actions?
What happened was the explosion of media participants who neither have any idea about nor any concern for journalistic principles. Did the entertainment-news-gossip-blogsphere circus kill the journalist? Or just drown out their voices?
db
Posted at 15:42h, 16 FebruaryAaahhhh Chris…. Of COURSE, the obligatory counseling by your pastor, God’s help. (pardon me, let me stop laughing so I can keep typing).
To be fair, we do not know the full story of what happened. I’m told by people who work in the Chris Brown universe that I should just wait until the whole truth comes out. Fair enough, but until then, it’s looking pretty damn bad Mr. Brown. I don’t know what kind of “truth” needs to be revealed for chris brown to come out not looking the way he already does… TRES WACK! I mean, if the reports of Rihanna’s injuries are true, Chris didn’t just lay a movie smack on her in a fit of passion. That was a full smackdown worthy of a pat on the back from Ike Turner. Bite marks???? I’m waiting to hear the whole truth tho.
As far as the media treatment that Chris & Rihanna are getting…. my dear old friend Thembeezy, it seems like you have a soft spot for Chris and Rihanna. To me, they are getting the attention that any other celeb couple in the same situation would get from the media. Imagine if Sam Mendes beat Kate Winslet the afternoon of the Golden Globes… or if Brad smacked up Angelina right before the Oscars… and then the couples canceled their respective appearances on the biggest nights for their industry. The media would whip themselves up into a lather. Now that I think about it, Chris and Rihanna are getting off kind of easy given today’s media mania and just how hot those spotlights can get.
Do I feel bad for Chris Brown that he lost his Doublemint and Got Milk campaigns??… I wouldn’t wish it on him but HELL NO I don’t feel sorry for him (based on what we know thus far).
Let me think about that again just to be sure…
Do I feel sorry that a 19 year old, singing star, heart-throb got into a fight with his world famous hottie singer girlfriend while driving his rented Lamborghini on Grammy performance day and then proceeded to allegedly whip her ass and now he is losing his earnings from two nationally sponsored campaigns??….. ummmmm NO!
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT, THE GUY I DO FEEL BAD FOR IS MICHAEL PHELPS… now THAT is a dude that got put on blast for nothing. If Kelloggs had decided to ride with Michael and not drop him I would have made sure my house never ran out of Rice Krispies!
Long after Chris has done his penance, seen his pastor, done PSAs against domestic violence, donated proceeds from his latest single to a battered women’s shelter, created a new introspective album based on the trials of his life and gotten his cash flow back to where it was before the Grammys… well when that career rehab is done, I will still know tons of people looking for a friggin job.
But back to the media… it really is a question of media, not a question of Chris and Rihanna specifically. We all know it’s not about network news and newspapers any more. There are now countless new facets of media… blogs, boards, websites, twitter, gossip, etc. And yes, almost anybody can set up their own forum or platform and start disseminating “news.” The result?… it cuts both ways. There have been many instances where the “traditional” press has been kept sharp and honest by the blogosphere shedding light on a story that was getting buried. Some kid taking a picture with his cell phone might blow the lid off a story about a guy who got beat up by the police.
On the flip side of the coin, however, we get the hearsay, drama, rumors, nonsense… the celebrity bullsh*t.
Thembisa, there are so many things to be said about the madness of celebrity in this country. Let’s just keep it at the media frenzy you cited in your post. To me, such a thing is unavoidable. We have infinitely more new outlets and sources, tons more ways to access this information instantly and the ability to report & access the news 24 hours a day…. while at the same time in the entertainment sphere, we have so much less to report on… less quality, diminished substance and fewer icons. It used to be a celebrity was most times a star. No longer true… celebs these days no longer have gravitas by achieving something in an art or a sport, winning an award for acting, recognition of a specific talent. Not these days… all you publicists out there getting sweated by your bosses to get your platinum artist a slot on Letterman, too bad your artist got beat out for that slot by some reality star chick that got famous because a tape of her sucking some guy’s d*ck got out on the web… like, no joke…. that’s what we are dealing with. We used to like to ask our celebs/stars about their craft, their process, their choices, their latest project, etc. Then we also used to always like to get in some lifestyle inquiries… are you dating, are you expecting, are u engaged. And that makes sense… I think DeNiro is a genius so of course I might get a kick out of hearing some personal tid bit about him that might shed light on what makes him tick or just provide an interesting compare/contrast between his public/private self.
These days so many of the people grabbing magazine covers are doing so with fluff. Even the celebs of substance and actual achievement are mostly getting covered for the fluff. Everybody feeds into the fluff including the celebs themselves. Celebs peddle their sphere of influence as a way of measuring their worth to and getting more money from the magazine, the label, the studio, the clothing line, the sponsor, the advertiser, whomever. And thus, many of them benefit by and want us caring about what they drive, who they date, what they drink, where they vacation, where they eat, where they shop, how much ice, where they go to party, what they wear. The whole system is based on the public obsessing over or at least giving a shit in passing about all the comings and goings of these celebs. So when something like this Chris/Rihanna story pops up of course there is going to be a reporting/gossip frenzy. That is the way the public has trained the media… or the media has trained the public… chicken or egg, I can’t say. But Chris/Rihanna got it no worse or less than any other celeb couple would have.
So Thembisa… I agree…. the “media” is wack… but they have BEEN wack. So I don’t pray for Chris and Rihanna, I pray for the immediate healing and maturation of the media!
Thembisa
Posted at 16:13h, 16 Februarydb, thanks for this very detailed commentary. You bring up a very salient point about celebrity versus stardom, and I deal with this extensively in my book; in a nutshell the difference being visibility over sustainability. They don’t call it ‘celebrity quality’ for a reason…and reality hoes bumping platinum songwriters on Letterman? well that’s just a shame! lol
You sound cynical about the whole recovery process for Chris–what would be better, for him to keep smackin’ chicks up and making saccharine ballads like it never happened? Aren’t artists supposed to work through their ish on records? I mean, Kellz acted like he never even (allegedly) peed on that girl–or at best like nothing was wrong with it–and his audience did too as they helped him keep selling. Oh BTW while they do remind me of younger siblings, and I do appreciate young stars of color who aren’t constantly catching cases and making subpar music, I think I have more of a soft spot for real reporting than Chris or Rihanna. Nice to know I’m not alone!
nana
Posted at 06:33h, 17 Februaryinteresting food for thought, thembisa. i do think EVERYTHING has changed as far as journalism goes. the explosion of tabloid journalism started it and the blogosphere has taken it to the next level. it is not necessarily a bad thing though. the false veneer that artists/celebs have sold us – eg the youngest person to do xyz when they have lied about their age – lets us and them off the hook and takes us to a realer place. forces us to examine why we need role models in the first place (which i think we do), and who those role models should be (safer to stick with people we actually know, not people we need to buy magazines/cds/etc to access). i think we also need to look into and enforce child labor laws as far as the entertainment and modeling industries go. these young stars are exposed to/get away with so much shit just because they are stars. chris brown is just 19. rihanna, just 21. and they’ve both been on the road for most of their lives – with money and basically no one to account to. think about where we would’ve been had we been working 24/7 and clocking major figures. there’s a reason the majority of us are in school with our peers at that age.
Combat Jack
Posted at 14:58h, 17 February^^db, you are coming off sounding mad haterish, like a lil too much chest thumping going on in yer lil circle playa. Care to share anything we don’t know about?
Until we really know what occurred, none of us are qualified to judge. At the most though, it’s obvious that Chris Brown is seeking out help and he should be afforded that opportunity to receive it. Plus, we all know by now that being persecuted and jailed won’t solve a cot-damned thing.
rj
Posted at 19:00h, 17 FebruaryCombat Jack…I completely understand your point about not judging, but I must ask you…Are you absolutely out of your mind???
Chris Brown (or his lawyer/pr people) made a statement himself stating an apology for something…what exactly we don’t know bc he is not going to state that he beat someone w/a pending lawsuit…but whatever it is it is enought for him to be “seeking counseling from his pastor”…so it can’t be just about an argument!
The fact that you mention DB as being a “hater” is unmistakely ridiculous…You are making it appear as if CB won and the Oscar, Tony, Grammy and Pulitzer in the same week as walking on the moon!
Hating????…Are you serious???
Tyson F. Gautreaux
Posted at 18:59h, 24 MarchAt first I didn’t like her but Rihanna is a breath of fresh air!