We Must Keep Talking About Chris Brown

Honestly, had I known Chris Brown was going to perform at the Grammys – not just once, but twice – I might have decided to abstain. But I love music, it’s music’s biggest night, so I flounced down on the couch – and had my phone ready.

Because we can’t watch an awards show without Twitter anymore, right?

Well, the first shocking revelation was that the Mountain and Pacific time zones were on tape delay.

Um. Hello it is 2012 right?

More from Monika Runstrom on that.

But then I caught mentions from the east coasters that Chris Brown was performing.

Wait, what?

The Chris Brown who beat Rihanna senseless in 2009, got off pretty much scott-free, then broke a window on the Good Morning America set… that Chris Brown?

I have been tweeting and facebooking about it since that night, but just can’t let it go. It is too incredibly personal to me, as a victim of abuse myself, to not talk about this issue.

And there are several very important posts that have surfaced this week that I would like to share.

First. Apparently the Grammy’s think THEY were wronged when Chris Brown beat Rihanna’s face and put her in the hospital. (No really. Again. Please. Read the police report. It wasn’t a trivial punch in the face. As if any punch in the face is trivial.)

So, the GRAMMYs were wronged in all this huh?

I’m Not Okay with Chris Brown Performing at the Grammys and I’m Not Sure Why You Are

Sasha Pasulka sums up so many of my thoughts on why I was shocked Chris Brown was on the Grammys, and why I was shocked more people were NOT shocked. I mean. REALLY?

And then, during the night, young ladies started tweeting they didn’t care if they had got beat in the face, they would do X, Y, Z for Chris Brown. I’m sorry, WHAT? Roxanne Gay covers this so much more eloquently that I ever could… plus talks about how we have let this go on forever. (Charlie Sheen, anyone?)

Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them

But last of all. Chris Brown himself doesn’t give a crap about what he did. Not one bit. He got his Grammy, so… FUCK. US. ALL.

Chris Brown Says ‘Hate All You Want Because I Got A Grammy’

Yeah.

I’m am all about second chances.

But Chris Brown has used his all up.

This article has 10 comments

  1. Megan

    I am flabergasted by all of it.

  2. Melanie

    Between Chris Brown…TWICE(!) and the Nicki Minaj blasphemous train wreck, I felt as though I had to shower. I was horribly offended by both.

    My husband was actually supposed to do a gag for Rihanna for that fateful 2009 performance, so in a weird way I feel personally attached to her well being. I mean, how was it for her to perform on the same night/stage as though we had all forgotten?!

    I also thought that Taylor Swift got a standing ovation because all of us were thinking she was singing directly to the elephant in the room, Chris Brown!

  3. Becky

    Here here! I’m still not sure why and how we are making this batterer a music hero. Disgusting!!

  4. Carrie

    I was shocked too Aimee. What shocked me more? The idiot girls tweeting that he could hit them anytime?! OMG! UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

  5. Anonymous

    I can’t understand it either…what is going on with these people that they WOULD WANT TO BE BEATEN UP BY THIS ASSHOLE. Whatever happened to the justice system that would allow a man like him to be walking the streets and then give him an award…..no wonder we’re going down the drain!

  6. feel good

    nice post

  7. Tracy B.

    I completely ‘get’ why people don’t want to see, hear or think about Chris Brown. Full stop.

    Now, a question for you: Where does one draw the line? How do we feel about Glenn Campbell, the much adored singer suffering from Alzheimers and who sang a last tribute song to standing ovation at the same Grammy’s? Mr. Campbell has had multiple arrests for domestic violence in his career, some including more violent episodes than Chris Brown’s.

    And how do we feel about other crimes of violence? Do we ban all singers –and what about actors, dancers, circus clowns, performers of all types– who have committed violent crimes? (Or is it just crimes against women?) What about animal cruelty perpetrators? Or proposed authors who have committed crimes the public may not know about.

    I get it completely, I do. And I can’t stand Chris Brown for it.

    I also think we need to use our ability to influence organizations like the Grammy’s, who want viewers (more than respectability, probably!)—by simply turning off the channel. Not by ‘banning’. We’re not a totalitarian state, and we’re not a theocracy. We ‘vote’ the way Americans have always ‘voted’, by our support, or lack of it, by voting with our pocketbook, or feet, our viewership, etc. Not by ‘banning.’ To ‘ban’ is a very slippery slope, and “UnAmerican” in the truest sense of the word.

    Thanks for listening.

  8. Tracy B.

    I completely ‘get’ why people don’t want to see, hear or think about Chris Brown. Full stop.

    Now, a question for you: Where does one draw the line? How do we feel about Glenn Campbell, the much adored singer suffering from Alzheimers and who sang a last tribute song to standing ovation at the same Grammy’s? Mr. Campbell has had multiple arrests for domestic violence in his career, some including more violent episodes than Chris Brown’s.

    And how do we feel about other crimes of violence? Do we ban all singers –and what about actors, dancers, circus clowns, performers of all types– who have committed violent crimes? (Or is it just crimes against women?) What about animal cruelty perpetrators? Or proposed authors who have committed crimes the public may not know about.

    I get it completely, I do. And I can’t stand Chris Brown for it.

    I also think we need to use our ability to influence organizations like the Grammy’s, who want viewers (more than respectability, probably!)—by simply turning off the channel. Not by ‘banning’. We’re not a totalitarian state, and we’re not a theocracy. We ‘vote’ the way Americans have always ‘voted’, by our support, or lack of it, by voting with our pocketbook, or feet, our viewership, etc. Not by ‘banning.’ To ‘ban’ is a very slippery slope, and “UnAmerican” in the truest sense of the word.

    Thanks for listening.

  9. Andy ROK

    chris brown sucks.

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