Apparently, domestic abuse and beating your girlfriend until she’s black and blue is acceptable behavior – if your name is Chris Brown.
Brown, was arrested two years ago for assaulting his then-girlfriend, pop star Rihanna. At the time, it seemed everyone was on the same page: Chris Brown was an abuser and that wouldn’t be tolerated. Radio stations pulled his music, celebrities like Kanye West and Jay-Z denounced him and the public made it very clear they were done with him. Brown was a pariah, and rightly so. Abuse shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Brown stayed (or was shunned, depending on how you look at it) out of the public eye for months after the arrest. No one wanted anything to do with him. Rihanna’s career exploded. Brown was left to fend for himself in the land of celebrity obscurity shared with the other guy from Wham! (Andrew Ridgley, if you’re interested) and Steven, the “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!”guy.
Fast-forward two years. Brown has a new album, a new single, and a new haircut. He wants people to forget he hits women. Or, at the very least, not care. It appears as if he’s getting his wish.
After some public twitter feuds, most notably with Fox News’ Red Eye Ombudsman, Andy Levy, there has been a swell of support for the 22 year old singer, calling themselves “Team Breezy,” mostly among young women.
He performed at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. I watched, but without much interest. I prefer my men without violent criminal records. I will admit he’s got some dance moves, though.
But I wasn’t prepared for the twitter storm of young women, all saying essentially the same thing: Beat ME, Chris Brown.
Yes, you read that correctly. Just two years after being the pariah of the music business, Chris Brown has now evolved into something of a dreamboat. A dreamboat with fists.
Buzzfeed put together a list of the mind-boggling tweets. I urge you to check it out. But be warned. Your head might explode.
I get it, the tweets were mostly in jest. These girls don’t REALLY want Chris Brown to beat them. At least I hope not. But it does send the wrong message. And that message is clear: domestic abuse is perfectly acceptable, so long as the abuser is famous. Who cares if he put a woman in the hospital, he can sing and dance! That more than makes up for the hospital bills.
It’s a sad state for women (and men too) if we’re glorifying someone who put his girlfriend in the hospital. With the amount of media coverage bullying is getting lately, why does Chris Brown get a pass on physical abuse? It’s more than troubling to think about.
So to those who want Chris Brown to beat them up: Come on, ladies. You can do better.
