I often fancy myself a Hollywood publicist. Image cleanup seems so simple, yet celebrities have the hardest time with it. That’s either because their publicists aren’t doing their job, or because the celebrities won’t listen to them. Chris Brown recently appeared on Good Morning America to promote his new album, and the interview apparently ended with Chris Brown ripping his shirt off and breaking a window. Needless to say, he wasn’t pleased with Robin Roberts’ questions about Rihanna. If I were advising Chris Brown, I’d tell him to immediately return to Good Morning America and openly discuss the incident. He needs to say why he got so upset and explain precisely what happened. I’ve read that those questions were approved prior to the interview, so it’s unclear why he was so surprised and angry when they were asked. Unless he owns his flaws and continues to discuss the Rihanna incident with a calm head, the public will never forgive him. I understand he’s difficult to root for because he physically abused his girlfriend, but I’m not a fan of shunning people for life because of their mistakes. If he’s legitimately changed then I’m willing to move on. It’s difficult to believe he’s changed though, especially since he can’t even get through an interview with losing his temper.
For a person in the public eye, hitting a women is one of the harder
things to overcome. Battered and sympathetic women everywhere will
never be won over. With that in mind, Chris probably had quite a talk
with his publicist about what his public image could realistically be.
A theoretical excerpt from their probable conversation: “celebrities
must be hated or loved, because luke-warm sentiment never makes the
front page. Begging for forgiveness is pathetic. It will cost you all
your street-cred, which you need, and it isn’t likely to win you any
more support than you’ve already got.” From his behavior on the show,
I’d guess he made the pragmatic choice and is now cultivating a
volatile bad-boy persona. This is a PR venture he’s likely to be
successful with.
I seriously doubt he’s intentionally trying to cultivate a bad-boy image. I
think that’s just the default of his behavior. He’s been trying to do image
cleanup since the abuse, including a Larry King appearance with his mother,
who said that she was shocked by the Rihanna fight because “Chris has never
been violent.” I think we can put her comment to rest at this point.
Ripping your shirt off and running through the street because of an
interviewer’s question suggests that he still has serious work to do. But
in reference to your comment — he’s trying to regain respect — and it’s
not working.
Chris Brown is a spoilt kid who thinks knocking his woman around adds to his gangster reputation. If you’re not strong enough to open a jar, do you break an egg to reset the equilibrium? No.
Chris Brown is not a man. He’s not a pimp. He’s not even a good musician. He’s a dancing bear on a production line and as such, should be replace with another talentless drone who at least just pretends to believe in keeping his woman in line lyrically.
The media, the music industry and the public should collectively turn their back on him and he should be stripped of all money earned and awards given. He should not be continuously being given the chance to “keep calm and explain”. That’s exactly what he should have done in the first place.
Men who engage in domestic violence – if you’re reading this, do the world a favor and put yourself out of everyone else’s misery.