In
Hannah Gadsby's Nanette, she covered a lot of ground. She only briefly
mentioned what I'm going to write about, but it is something that has always
bothered me.
"Separate the artist from the art."
In her comedy special, she was speaking about Picasso
and how just because he had sex with an underage girl doesn't
mean you can't appreciate his cubism! Gadsby new this was bullshit and so do I.
Here are the reasons I not only hate Chris Brown, but also his supporters.
When Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna, I was pretty
young. As I grew up, I continued to listen to his music. I didn't know any
better. When I stumbled upon the police report detailing everything that
happened during the assault, I opened my Spotify, searched "Chris
Brown," and unsaved all his music I had saved (Kaufman, 2009).
In 2016, his ex-girlfriend Karrueche filed for a
restraining order because he had pushed her down the stairs, punched her in the
stomach, and threatened to shoot her because if he couldn't "have
her" then nobody could (Jeltson, 2017). His supporters shared a picture of
Karrueche doing yoga with captions like "Damn, do you see that ass? No
wonder Breezy was ready to catch a case over her! I'd risk it all
too!"
He was accused of raping a woman in Paris in 2019
(Tsioulcas, 2019). His supporters fired back with "he is CHRIS BROWN.
EVERY girl wants him. He wouldn't HAVE to rape someone! Duh!" Surely they
can't be that stupid, but I have noticed a pattern with men in general: if the
accused is their friend or someone they support, it couldn't have possibly
happened. It's not their business. They're going to stay out of it. But that's
a whole different blog post idea you all are welcome to use.
Years later, Chris Brown came out with a documentary
detailing his life. His supporters, again, were quick to say "See, he's
just misunderstood. There's two sides to every story. He learned from his
mistakes."
Here is why that is bullshit: you shouldn't
need to beat, rape, and threaten women before you learn not to do those things.
They are not "mistakes." Filling in the wrong bubble on a scantron is
a mistake. Hitting a stop sign is a mistake. Physical and sexual assault is not
a mistake you make before learning not to do it again.
When R. Kelly was exposed as a disgusting predator, it
only took me 30 seconds to unsave all the music in my Spotify that included
him. I will gladly skip every song I used to consider a BOP if it is by men
that hurt and disrespect women. I will not separate the artist from the art,
because every time I stream those songs, they get money from my wallet. I am well aware that my one stream won't make much of a difference to their deep pockets, but it's the principle of the thing. I will
not support it in any way, shape, or form.
I hate Chris Brown. He should be in jail. The end.
Sources:
Jeltsen, Melissa. “Chris Brown's Ex
Claims He Threatened To Kill Her.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 22 Feb. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/chris-browns-ex-claims-he-threatened-to-kill-her_n_58adbafde4b0d0a6ef46d9ef.
Kaufman, Gil. “Chris Brown Police
Report Provides Details Of Altercation.” MTV
News, 6 Mar. 2009,
www.mtv.com/news/1606481/chris-brown-police-report-provides-details-of-altercation/.
Tsioulcas, Anastasia. “Chris Brown
Arrested On Charges Of Rape In Paris.” NPR, NPR, 22 Jan. 2019,
www.npr.org/2019/01/22/687346330/chris-brown-arrested-on-charges-of-rape-in-paris.
