Rihanna’s timing in regards to her opening-up to Diane Sawyer on “20/20” about the Chris Brown beat-down was curious at best, and it reeked of shameless exploitation at its worst. “Yeah, my ex-boyfriend beat me like a man and I suffer from post traumatic episodes,” I can almost hear her purr with her Caribbean accent, before she not-so-subtlely adds: “But don’t forget that my new CD is about to drop.”
Supposedly, Rihanna was far too fragile to come out and talk about her pain – and stayed in that condition right up until it was time for her album was about to be released. The public saw right through her charade, and her lackluster album sales reflect it accordingly.
Despite Rihanna’s blizzard of publicity, painful-to-watch confessionals with Diane Sawyer and others, throwing Chris Brown under the bus [and backing it up to drive over him again], the top-name producers, the A-list writers, budget-busting music videos, Rihanna still wound up with very disappointing album sales. Especially when you compare the amount of marketing dollars her record company spent to promote Rated R.
Instead of appearing on Oprah after the infamous Beverly Hills skirmish with Brown, Rihanna spurned the talk show queen and stuffed the painful episode in her purse like a bunch of loose coins. She then tried to use the beat down like currency to buy even more public sympathy and free publicity on national talk shows.
Uh uh. Wrong answer.
Rihanna’s nonstop self promotion equated to only 181,000 sales of Rated R in its first week, landing her in 4th place. The following week, Rihanna fell out of the top ten altogether and now rests in a subpar 16th on the charts position. This is an enviable position for up-and-comers, but not for someone who has a public profile as high as Rihanna.
There’s no question who’s at fault in the domestic violence situation. Former music darling Chris Brown is lucky to avoid an extended date with Big Bubba in Cellblock 4.
But Rihanna milking victimization reminds me of when nationally-known televangelist Juanita Bynam was unfortunately beat down so bad by her husband, pastor Thomas W. Weeks, that she nearly became part of the pavement. Yet, instead of endearing herself to the public, Bynam’s subsequent interviews and public appearances seemed to register with the public as again not-so-subtle attempts to profit personally from a horribly regrettable experience. Her ministry and public standing appear to have suffered considerably as a result.
Rihanna’s increasingly risqué behavior, performances and public statements — some would say scandalous —suggests a woman headed in the same direction. But at least she has her sexuality in order, we think:
“I’d love to be an assassin. Either that or a lesbian. Maybe both! Hey, a gay assassin, there’s nothing hotter than that,” Rihanna told Media Takeout. “Megan Fox would play my girlfriend — hands down. She’s yummy. She’s hot. All humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes. I mean, I could see myself in a relationship with a girl.”
Oh, ok, Rihanna. – terry shropshire
