Chris Brown has gained even more haters after last week’s record breaking ‘The Today Show” performance, which drew more than 18,000 fans to Rockefeller Center. Among the many praises and accolades showered upon Chris, were some very disparaging remarks; namely made by FOX News host Laura Ingram and her co-horts Cooper Lawrence, author of ‘The Cult of Celebrity,’ and Jehmu Greene, former president of Rock the Vote.
Cooper Lawrence, author of ‘The Cult of Celebrity’: “I want to explain to you what’s going on in the culture. There’s two main things going on. One is, we make these social comparisons and we do these ‘in’ group ‘out’ group things. Once we decide someone’s in our ‘in’ group, we’re unwilling to see what’s blatant in front of us. You show that person a picture of what Rihanna looked like, ‘Oh, I don’t think that’s her, I don’t know what she did to instigate that.’ It’s this blind faith that people have in their celebrities once they decide they’re in the ‘in’ group.”
Jehmu Greene former president of Rock The Vote: “The more he is given a platform, the less accountable that people are going to be able to hold him. We need to walk away from it. It gives a really, really bad example, but I think what it also does against young people is to perpetuate a stereotype against males–”
Laura Ingraham: [interrupting Jehmu Greene]: — a stereotype against African Americans, too. African Americans are given a bad wrap by a guy who — I can’t read most of these lyrics — but I will sum[marize]. This is ‘Look At Me Now,’ one of his top hits in the world actually. “Lil’ n-word, bigger than gorilla, ’cause I’m killin’ every blank — n-word — that try to be on my s-word.” How is this good for anyone? Including him. I actually feel bad for him because I don’t know what happened to him, I don’t know if he got mixed up with some really bad entertainment managers, I don’t know if it’s a family thing, I have no idea, but underneath it all might be a man [who’s] very talented, but he needs help. We shouldn’t be giving this a platform.
Laura first attacked the singer on Friday, soon after his NBC ‘Today Show’ performance aired; and stated that the network was “rewarding bad behavior”:
“You may remember the singer Chris Brown, he pleaded guilty to beating his then girlfriend Rihanna back in 2009. Sane Americans were disgusted by his bad behavior but that did not stop him from getting top billing this morning on The Today Show.”
FOX News took things a step even further, by showing the now infamous photo of Rihanna’s battered face to people on the street, asking for their opinion on the issue:
“Just wanna show you this one picture, here’s a picture of Rihanna after the incident and I’ve never seen a picture of Chris Brown where it showed that he had any sort of injuries anywhere close to this.”
Chris Brown once again took to his Twitter to defend himself saying:
“People really should grow up sometimes! I guess the next story they make up will say “chris brown paid the fans to come! #stopit5 hahaha..I get it though! They are upset at the fact that the today show actually focuses on talent instead of an almost 3 year old incident! Running bogus and pointless stories don’t matter! My fans prove that everyday and the haters just look old as F**k ! I keep my head high and my middle finger higher! I love team breezy. Let’s just laugh it off cuz they mad. Ahahahahaha..Fame + Platinum= Fortune! Nobody can take my joy. I have some of the most incredible fans in the world. Goodnight y’all!”
Rapper 50 Cent chimed in, disgusted with FOX News’ attack on Chris, saying:
“I just saw a clip on FOX news Hating on NBC for having chris brown on. Unbelievable. I’m never watching that [channel] again. He paid for his mistake #!@%*# holes.”
Will Chris ever be able to shake this bad press? Seems to me that White celebs are constantly allowed to mess up; apparently non-White celebs can’t quite ‘afford’ such a luxury.
