Many parents were outraged and even planned to protest against Rihanna for the explicit act of violence and murder portrayed in her new video for the single “Man Down.” It wasn’t long after the world premiere of the video that the sirens went of and the Parent Television Council and a former BET star released a statement criticizing its depiction of Rihanna, as a victim of domestic violence, shooting down her assailant.
Paul Porter, the former BET voice declared, “‘Man Down’ is an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song. In my 30 years of viewing BET, I have never witnessed such a cold, calculated execution of murder in prime time. Viacom’s standards and practices department has reached another new low,” Porter said in the statement. “If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass and BET should know better. The video is far from broadcast worthy.” He has a very valid point about Chris Brown.
Late Wednesday night and into Thursday, Rihanna fired shots on her Twitter defending her video while at the same time thanking all of her supporters. In her own defense she claimed artistic freedom, youth and the desire to inspire.
Rihanna tweeted early Thursday afternoon “I’m a 23 year old rockstar with NO KIDS! What’s up with everybody wantin me to be a parent? I’m just a girl, I can only be your/our voice! Cuz we all know how difficult/embarrassing it is to communicate touchy subject matters to anyone especially our parents! …And this is why! Cuz we turn the other cheek! U can’t hide your kids from society, or they’ll never learn how to adapt! This is the REAL WORLD!… The music industry isn’t exactly Parents R Us! We have the freedom to make art, LET US! Its your job to make sure they dont turn out like US”
I don’t know, I feel torn between the situations in that Rihanna does have the right to express herself in any form or way that she pleases and that the PTC did go in on her a little too hard. I kind of feel bad for her, but at the same time Rihanna has to understand how powerful the influence of music is to children and adolescents who aren’t mature enough to differentiate reality from the “make believe world” of music videos. No it’s not her responsibility to parent other people’s children, however it is her responsibility as a celebrity to be a role model whether she like is or not, not to mention a great deal of her “Rihanna Navy” are children and younger adults! But she’s not stupid. She knows who her fans are. Now don’t get me wrong because I love me some Rih Rih, I support her and I actually love the song, but how would she feel if years down the road her own son or daughter murdered someone because they saw her do it on her video…I’m just saying. Anyway, take a look at the video here and judge for yourself.
