When it was initially reported that Chris Brown had been arrested for assaulting Rihanna the night before the Grammys, speculation spread like swine flu. Some claimed to reserve judgment for when the facts of the incident were made clear, but when the police report was published and photos of a bloody and bruised Rihanna were leaked to the Web, Brown’s image and career were immediately thrown into jeopardy — and rightfully so. A man beating a woman is reprehensible in any context, but Brown’s reported pummeling of Rihanna was disturbing in its brutality and intensity.
Brown appears on “Larry King Live” this week to speak, for the first time, about the incident that forever changed he and Rihanna’s public lives and private relationship. After being sentenced to five years probation, Brown has decided to break his silence.
On the night and the photos that revealed Rihanna’s bruises:
“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t — I can’t believe that — that actually happened.”
On never learning how to deal with his emotions:
“Nobody taught us how to love one another. Nobody [gave] us a book on how to — how to control our emotions or our anger. I wish I could have changed that night.”
On probation and community service:
“They want me to pick up trash remove graffiti. I’m a hard worker. It’s something I’m willing to do.”
On repairing his image:
“I just need to prove to people [that] I can be a role model. That’s not who I am as a person, and that’s not who I promise I want to be.”
Brown deserves a chance to redeem himself in the court of public opinion, but his situation is unique in the pantheon of contemporary pop culture. You would be hard-pressed to find an incident like this: one of the biggest pop stars in the world sustains a vicious beating at the hands of her equally famous squeaky-clean boyfriend, while both were at the height of their careers. Madonna and Sean Penn had reports of violence — but Sean was never as clean-cut as Chris Brown. Whitney and Bobby? By the time domestic abuse was alleged, both artists were past their primes and had become more notorious for their drug abuse and run-ins with the law. Like it or not, Chris, you’re in largely uncharted territory here. It will take more than a mea culpa for you to navigate your way back to respectability. –todd williams
