Oh I so wanted to blackout all the Bobby Brown support during our angel, Whitney Houston‘s funeral. I wanted to just believe the #TeamBreezy (or whatever you call him) bandwagon were just a bunch of naive girls with a lot of growing up to do. I wasn’t going to say anything about R. Kelly‘s performance at Houston‘s home going service. I believed Too Short‘s advice to young men was too over the top to be taken seriously.
But the more defensive support I hear in the streets & online, I really want to know- Why are so many African-American people embracing these people as successful, upstanding citizens?
Let’s examine their behavior or “mistakes” as some people call them.
Bobby Brown-Emotionally and physically abused Whitney Houston for years and front of their own child, Bobbi Kristina.
Chris Brown– brutally abused Rhianna, half apologized for it and continued to display out of control violent behavior by smashing a window and trashing a dressing room after interview questions he didn’t like from Robin Roberts on Good Morning America
R. Kelly is a misogynistic pedophile who bought his way out of jail.
Too Short aka Too Ignorant is encouraging young men to sexually aggressive toward women.
What the heck is there to love about these people? All of their behavior is documented, so there is no question whether they guilty. None of them are repentant in words or action.
Yes Chris Brown apologized but he got no help and continues the well known batterer’s cycle of violence and apologies. Many young girls tweeted in essence “he could beat me all day”. We support this?
R. Kelly offers no apology or even acknowledge his guilty when the whole world saw him on tape. However like Roman Polanski & Woody Allen he remains a highly sought after songwriter, producer. Never mind what he does to young black girls.
I hear so many people defend Bobby Brown with arguments like, “He didn’t start Whitney on drugs.. She was a grown woman…Whitney’s family did him dirty by keeping hm from Bobbi Kristina, etc.
Since when does being afflicted with drug addiction make it acceptable to be spit on and shoved by your spouse? When he heard his ex-wife died, he didn’t rush to his troubled daughter, Bobbi Kristina’s side he kept working? He left his daughter alone at her mother’s funeral, a)because his other children weren’t allowed in, b)he was asked to change seating 3 times, c) (fill in the blank) excuses. These are not the actions of loving, caring father and ex-spouse, but a self absorbed man-child who abandoned his daughter because he he couldn’t have it his way.
And twitter was a buzz about how wrong the Houston family was for not accommodating Mr. Brown. I wonder how many “defenders” would have even invited someone who spat on their daughter/mother& participated in her drug use to their relatives funeral. Do they all embrace and bend over backwards to accommodate people who shit on their family?
The saddest part of this “Brown was wronged” frenzy was it just wasn’t die hard fans, but even well respected media personalities. Rev. Sharpton insisted the incident at the funeral was “blown out of proportion”. Proportion to what? Abandoning your very troubled daughter, because you can’t have all the guests you want doesn’t compare to many other things. Cable news commentator, Goldie Taylor tweeted how “gracious and dignified” Bobby Brown’s behavior was. I personally asked her what was so dignified about abandoning his daughter, she went on to tweet that “none of us were in the church and really know what happened” there or during their marriage.
Funny thing is anyone who watched the Oprah interview “Remembering Whitney” knows that Whitney said her ex-husband abused her in front of her daughter. Now unless Ms Taylor is calling Whitney a liar, we do know. Bobby releasing a statement, not saying he was too over come with grief but saying “I don’t understand why I was disrespected” was in no way dignified or acceptable as an excuse to abandon Bobbi Kristina. I wonder if Goldie Taylor’s “alleged” (cause remember we weren’t there yall, it might be a lie) high school rapist coach publicly released a statement, not apologizing but questioning Ms Taylor’s story would she consider that dignified?
That’s what really gets me. Those few blessed talented people who gain fame, only gain fortune because of the fans that support them. There’s no lack of talent in the African American community to cause us to cling to these disgraceful, unrepentant abusers.
We all have to understand no matter how talented, rich , good looking or whatever blessing a person might possess, those traits can never be outweighed by unrepentant abusive behavior. Not making that your bottom line, leaves the door open to our young people getting into similar circumstances and rationalizing away the abuse, like we do for the above mentioned celebrities.
So again why do continue to embrace these people?
Tess Powell Out Loud 