Chris Brown seamlessly performed the techno-infused “Turn Up The Music” from his forthcoming album with electrifying energy and jarring moves and he led the Soul Train line with more of his artistic footwork as an ode to the late Don Cornelius. . Even if techno isn’t your thing—or Chris, watching him perform like none in his generation was titillating hinging on awe.
Chris, the 22-year-old who is making moves that most post-adolescents will only read about made a triumphant return to the 54th Grammy Awards after a three-year aperture following the highly publicized assault on then-girlfriend pop-star Rihanna.
Well…his return was mostly triumphant— during the show. Afterwards, hell broke loose.
Shortly after the award show, many took to Twitter, which is now proxy for “hidden in plain sight” interviews, to hurl insults and discontent for Brown’s comeback to the Grammy stage and for doing so more than once.
“Are Chris Brown’s mom and dad CBS and Grammy Brown?” Eric Stonestreet of Modern Family asked.
“Chris brown…people don’t forget! #chrisbrownbeatswomen” Jack Osbourne tweeted. “If Chris Brown had worn a wife beater, the irony would eclipse the whole show #chrisbrownbeatswomen.”
“Why wasn’t Chris Brown fired from ‘music’ (public dancing) when he beat up that girl?…Dear ‘thugs’ and ‘gangstas’ of the hip-hop industry, how is it that none of you ‘handled’ Chris Brown? #thuglife #prisonrules #getsome,”Ethan Suplee tweeted.
We, the public, knew Chris would break his absentee Grammy streak this year; there had been talk in January and a recent confirmation, yet no one protested. But for some reason, the performer actually performing rubbed folks the wrong way and simply put—pissed them off.
While assault is not to be taken lightly or championed or commended, why can’t Chris Brown, who has gone (and is going) through the proper societal channels in place to pay for his felony, be forgiven publicly? So he is to take brutal tongue lashings and Twitter floggings until people, who presumably weren’t aware of him to begin with (Eric Stonestreet? Really?), say so?
Would it matter if he was—say an actor? Obviously, yes.
Does Charlie Sheen ring a bell? The actor who was once raking in $2 million for “Two And A Half Men” per episode. Since Brown’s charges are religiously brought to the forefront, let’s take a look at not one, but some of the assault charges from the once highest paid television actor.
(While I despise bringing up what a person’s past holds, my doing so is for calculated measures as to how the ongoing vilifying of Chris Brown is incomprehensibly unfair.)
According to USA TODAY: in 1996 Sheen is taken into custody and charged in the assault of former girlfriend Brittany Ashland. A year later, he pleads no contest to the charges and receives a suspended sentence and two years of probation from a California judge; In 2006 Sheen and second wife Denise Richards announce they are divorcing. During a bitter custody dispute later that year, she claims that he had physically and verbally abused and threatened to kill her. As a result, she receives a restraining order against him; In 2009, Sheen is arrested Dec. 25 in Aspen, Colo., and booked on suspicion of second-degree assault, menacing and criminal mischief in a domestic-violence dispute with his wife, Brooke Mueller; In 2010, Sheen pleads guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in the domestic-assault case stemming from the Christmas incident and is ordered to spend 30 days in rehab as part of a plea deal at a court hearing in Aspen, Colo. In exchange, two other charges are dropped. The judge also sentences the actor to three months’ probation and orders him to complete 36 hours of domestic violence counseling.
Yet, I can’t recall the backlash akin to Brown to fire Sheen or a call for an end to his career or a call for his replacement on the production. As a matter of fact, his antics had to become scathing against the show’s producer before any changes were made to the line-up. Did Eric Stonestreet or Jack Osbourne unleash repugnant tweets about his well-documented assaults against women?
Or what about Miranda Lambert who’s easily drawn the most attention for her post Grammy tweets. Did she call Charlie out in an irresponsible, equally loathsome tweet in the name of fairness?
“And Chris Brown twice? I don’t get it. He beat on a girl…Not cool that we act like that didn’t happen. He needs to listen to Gunpowder and lead and be put back in his place. Not at the Grammys.” (“Gunpowder and Lead” is Lambert’s song about a woman preparing to kill her husband when he gets out of jail.)
Did she just patronize violence while speaking out against violence? Weird. And “put back in his place”? I won’t touch that.
Chris has talked about his past demons of seeing his mother abused at the hands of his stepfather and how the ramifications of living such abuse have harmed him. Should he get ongoing help to help relinquish the pain and anger from his childhood? In my opinion, yes. Should he be banned from performing—no.
Some of the remarks heaved against Chris’s performance at the Grammys three years past his assault charges seem to be misplaced anger coming from a personal angle more so than the two, Chris and Rihanna, involved. Seemingly, Chris shouldn’t be alone in dealing with past pains.
I do think the release and accessibility of Rihanna’s battered and blue face images make the public less likely to forget…and forgive. Seeing her bruises at the click of a few Google searches can elicit anger about the male-to-female attack. That I get. While I’m not asking the public to let such horror fade, I am asking to allow this young man, who obviously, needs some healing, time to do just that. If you wish to not see Chris perform, it’s okay to not actually watch his performances.
While I’m sure Rihanna appreciates the support from the Twitter world, I wonder if Eric Stonestreet is involved in any local organizations for abused women.
I think it’s wrong and unfair to not allow Chris a chance to move on. Rihanna has forgiven him, why can’t you?
By Deidre White
