Monthly Archives June 2010

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Singer Chris Brown broke down bawling on the stage last night at the BET Awards in LA during a Michael Jackson Tribute. Chris Brown was singing the MJ song “Man in the Mirror” and was unable to finish due to tears. 

“We’ve seen all of the tributes, but we haven’t seen him,” Jermaine said, casting an ungloved hand boldly toward another stage.

Then, in silhouette a Michael Jackson-like figure started to dance the moves we all grew up with. The dancer was lithe and bold, the motions effortless and poetic. Beautiful, really.
For me the watching BET Awards is like visiting an old lover. It has its moments and you are happy to indulge, but nervous the entire time that former ugliness will rear its head. So when the Michael Jackson figure started to move I was drawn in, hesitant and waiting.

Who was the man behind the curtain, the audience wondered. Was BET doing some sort of projected graphic to raise Michael Jackson from the dead for his own tribute as other awards shows have done with Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole? Was it Usher, Neo, or maybe even Justin Bieber?

Then the shade was lifted and the gorgeous figure danced his way down a staircase in full Michael Jackson regalia. “It’s Chris Brown,” a friend of mine shouted in the phone. We watched the rest of the tribute amazed with Chris Brown’s talent but also trying to puzzle out the reasons for BET making this connection. Chris Brown has been (rightfully so) a persona non grata after he was caught last year pummeling the face of his rock star girlfriend Rihanna.

My hypotheses is that the Jackson family, no stranger to scandal, public flogging and drama invited young Chris Brown to dance for his life as a nod to the forgiveness that they wished that their brother had experienced in life. For a moment, I became lost in the moment, enjoying my favorite MJ songs and the dancing.

At the climax of the tribute a sweat-soaked Chris Brown fell to the floor of the stage weeping during Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” Fitting as the lyrics insist, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror/ I’m asking him to change his ways.” By the end of the song Chris Brown was a blubbering mess and the audience sang the rest of the words for him.
The audience then strangely broke out into a standing ovation.
Huh? I wondered if I had missed something.

What was the standing ovation for? The performance? The tears? The breakdown?

People in general love a spectacle and black people love forgiveness and justification. I imagine that this is because it’s something we are rarely allotted from the outside world. In the end ultimately Chris Brown, a convicted woman-beater, was heralded and welcomed “home” as if he were some sort of home town hero, prodigal son or wrongly accused gentleman.

Do I think that Chris Brown should be flogged for the rest of his life for beating his girlfriend to a bloody pulp, destroying her face and sense of personhood at age 19? No, but only because he was only 19 years old at the time of the abuse.

However when many young women have taken to Twitter, Facebook and message boards not only to send messages of support for Chris Brown but anger at Rihanna for “what she did to him,” a common refrain, this sort of communal ‘support the abuser’ ritual leaves me cold. Unfortunately this is not new in my “community” in my lifetime. I saw it with boxer Mike Tyson and actress Robin Givens as she was labeled a golddigging bitch for publicly accusing a violent man of violence, and again with singer R. Kelly as very few black radio stations even made a peep about this notorious child predator.

Later in the BET Awards show Chris Brown added a verbal mea culpa, promising his fans not to let them down again when accepting his AOL Fandemonium Award. People are still asking whether the breakdown was genuine or a publicity ploy. Only time will tell.
If you are being abused or know someone who is please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−SAFE(7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224.

This week on Abiola on LSD: Love, Sex, Dating and Drama — my weekly Shovio show – Episode 7 featured dating blogger Kate AKA Lost Plum and lifestyles writer Sherri Smith. Kristal the Texas Dread was also in the house.

Our topic was how to put the spice back into the bedroom. There was an erection kit and erotic story plus the usual madness. 

xoxo,
a.