"Controversy equalizes fools and wise men, and the fools know it..."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
"A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know..."
- Lord Byron
Besides the obvious...I already know that their last names are "Brown" and that they are singers...
Yes, they all share the stigma of being "abusive men"...
Give up yet?
They represent 3 different generations of celebrity within Black America...and the cross that black celebrities have to bare.
I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but...why is it that when black celebrities are in serious legal trouble, we tend to crucify them? Hear me out people...
So, we make jokes. I get it. I've many PLENTY of jokes about R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, and even Lawrence Fishburne's daughter. Why is it that, when black celebrities are in trouble, we demand an explanation and a firm repudiation of all charges? I don't understand that.
Granted, a 24 hour news cycle and the current trend/culture of "celebrity worship" has made anyone with an ounce of popularity a front page news story on occasion, but why is it that we demand accountability from black celebrities more than any other? I don't see Lindsey Lohan standing in front of a microphone bank saying, "Puffy is great, but Lohan are for the children!" (Ok, I know the Ol' Dirty Bastard reference right there just went over SOMEBODY'S head...)
So, lets look at this further...shall we?
James Brown
In 1988 I was 5 years old...but I actually remember watching the news when somebody mentioned James Brown. Now my grandfather Ransom LOVED James Brown and Ray Charles. Hearing one of Grandaddy's favorite singers on the news made me pay attention for a second. After that, I seem to remember a couple of jokes here and there about James Brown being mentioned. Looking back at old comedy videos by Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and others, I see more and more jokes regarding James Brown's 1988 arrest, high speed chase, and eventual conviction.
Talking to people who were more cognizant during that time period, it was a joke amongst the entire country. James Brown led police on a high speed chase down I-20. However, no one judged Brown. It was a sense that if movie and music stars of other cultures could overdose on drugs and get caught doing God knows what, then James can drive on...besides, they had Reaganomics and a Crack epidemic to deal with.
When Brown was released in 1991, I recall there being a sense of relief and enjoyment at his freedom. He was allowed back into our homes via music and, although still the butt of jokes, was allowed to make a comeback of sorts.
BTW, did they ever bury him? I know his casket was posted up somewhere for a minute while they were trying to figure out who was gonna pay for the hole to be dug or something..."
Bobby Brown
Robert Barisford Brown was my absolute favorite singer as a child. Up until about 2006 I knew every word to "Don't Be Cruel" and I still know all the words to the "Ghostbusters 2" theme song that he did.
I thought Bobby Brown was THE COOLEST mothafunka on the planet. Throughout the 90's Bobby Brown was the butt of more than a few jokes about his substance abuse problems. He could, for all intents and purposes, be the poster child for the "Generation X" of Black America. He was the quintessential bad boy. Although he was the butt of jokes, Black America still gave him a chance. When he married America's Dark Sweetheart, Whitney Houston, Black America cringed, made more jokes, and said a collective, "Well hell....if that's what she wanna do..."
When Bobby Brown was arrested for Domestic Violence in 2003 and a parole violation in 2004, there seemed to be a renewed interest in Brown...NOT because he'd made a fairly popular song with Ja Rule the year before (I'll admit it, I was hoping for a comeback album after I heard him on that track and saw the video...It did freak me out that half of his face wouldn't move when he sang though....)
He was vilified, dogged out, judged beyond judgment, and treated like a leper...then we saw that Whitney Houston was a certified lunatic on the show Being Bobby Brown. After we realized that Whitney was more than likely the crackhead as opposed to Bobby, we went back to ignoring him...
Chris Brown
You all know the story. Chris beat the crap out of Rihanna in a sports car. Rihanna allegedly gave him an STD. Either way, Chris was wrong for kicking the crap out of her. I think him beating her ass is unequivocally wrong. Across the board. The question I have is, why did we demand SO much accountability from Chris?
I mean, the dude had to shut down his life, his career still hasn't fully rebounded, and he was coerced into wearing that awful ensemble on Larry King Live that produced a crapload of bow tie jokes from me...the avid bowtie wearer.
It produced a national discussion between black men and women about domestic violence. The questions were all pretty much like this:
"Why did he whoop her ass?"
"Did she at least pinch him?"
"Did she really give him the herp?"
"Is there ever an ok time to hit a woman?"
"Should Chris Brown be allowed forgiveness?"
"Why the hell is Rihanna using this to garner sympathy and album sales?"
Ok, I got so sick of the Chris Brown/Rihanna stuff that I wanted to kick both of their asses for unleashing all that dumb assedness on my twitter feed....
The bigger question is why did we demand so much from Chris Brown? Why has Black America evolved to the point where celebrities are cannibalized so quickly when they prove not to be beyond reproach. Why is it that we've gone from the dignified responses that we once had en masse to lambasting them with twitter diatribes, facebook statuses/groups, soft news pieces, and the occasional documentary. Well, for 2 reasons...one obvious, one not so obvious...
"The Rub"
The obvious answer is that twitter, facebook, and the millions of other social networking venues didn't exist during the James Brown generation and half of the Bobby Brown Generation's lives. Peoples judgments were largely kept "in house", so to speak. The 24 hour news cycle focused on real news (i.e.- Iran Contra, the crack epidemic, reaganomics, the war on terror, increasing violence in our inner cities) as opposed to manufactured news pieces glorifying our culture of celebrity. Lastly, Black America's agenda was more focused on the uplifting of the entire community (which James Brown even played a role in, "Say It Loud...") rather than personal gain.
Here's the no so obvious answer. I call it the "Chris Rock Theory". With integration, came the chance for many blacks to join white counterparts in a variety of institutions, tax brackets, and social spectra that were previously unfathomable or unattainable. With that upward mobility came a sense of accomplishment, as it should. However, it also bred a certain amount of contempt for those who weren't as lucky, fortunate, or, in some cases, propped up. It began a war against "Black People" vs. "Niggas"...yeah, I said it. When celebrities make a certain amount of money, gain a certain amount of influence, or garner a certain amount of attention they are seen as talented "black people"...our shining hope....our "Young, Gifted, and Black" that Donnie Hathaway sang about. They are speaking for us and to us collectively. While they're allowed a little bit of slack to cut up (See: Kanye) they're not allowed to make egregious errors or commit crimes of moral terpitude. (See: OJ)
The Problem
It makes us a community of hypocrites. We demand that our HUMAN celebrities be beyond reproach, but we often don't demand the same from ourselves. Look at ANY statistic regarding education, health, and economics and see where blacks stand...get my point?
What happened to "It Takes A Village To Raise A Child" in Black America...has it been replaced by "It Takes BET to Raise My Child?"
Also, lets take a look at our current celebrities...
We've gone from the gifted (Sidney Poitier), talented (Billie Holiday), innovative (Spike Lee), and downright driven (Oprah)...to the "cliched" (Tyler Perry), marginally talented (50 Cent), underperforming (Nikki Minaj...sidenote: I weep for what her talent COULD accomplish), and people that I'm still trying to wonder why the hell they get so much attention (Wendy Williams).
We celebrate these people's lives and "talent"; then ask them to be accountable to us, and for what? How does them justifying their actions make our lives any fuller? How does it improve our situation either personally or collectively? How does it honestly affect Black America? I'll tell you how...
It distracts us...
We've gotten less focused and dumber as a people...and it would be way too easy to blame it on the media, technology, or the evolution of the 24 hour news cycle.
*Starts playing Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror"*
A quote from Philly Def Poet Black Ice says it better than I can:
Ignorance is bliss and/
Niggas love this so/
Niggas take pride in not knowin'
We not growin'/
I don't give a f*** how slick you flowin/
If you ain't showin' these kids nothin/
Or addin' nothin' positive to the Earth/
See I was born to touch this world the day I was born/
To be honest.../
F*** a deal/
God gives me what I'm worth....
Do we still believe the same thing?
Ask yourself...
-Bleek
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