SAN FRANCISCO — Terry McMillan takes great umbrage with Rihanna’s ever-increasingly risqué behavior.
McMillan, whose New York Times bestselling fiction novels have been adapted to the big and small screen, is flummoxed as to why Rihanna keeps trying to stretch the sexual envelop in a way that it helps to retard the healthy psychological development of young girls who look up to her.
“I don’t watch reality TV. They think the only way to make it is through popularity and acceptance. And by doing that, a lot of them are going overboard. I don’t mean to knock a sister, but, when it comes to Rihanna, this girl is like …” McMillan pauses, trying to spit out the words that seem stuck in the back of her throat.
“I don’t understand how far some of us are willing to go to get attention and to …” McMillan’s voice trails off and, after a long pregnant pause, she repeats, “and get attention,” she said to uproarious laughter.
McMillan appeared alongside Tanya Lewis Lee, Star Jones and several other African American businesswomen at the 100 Black Men of America’s 25th annual convention at the Marriott Marquis.
Perhaps McMillan pumped the brakes frequently because she was exercising caution. The Waiting to Exhale author received a swift and brutal backlash for criticizing Will and Jada Pinkett Smith for allowing their children to fully pursue their music and movie careers.
But Rihanna, who has proven to be armed with a needle-sharp tongue, as evidenced by her thorough Twitter beatdown of Ciara recently as well as her forceful response to Minister Louis Farrakhan, will doubtlessly provide a retort to McMillan’s psychological evaluation of her. We will soon see. 5
–terry shropshire
