Group 6
Chris Brown is famous for his music, however, there is a darker side to the singer that many are willing to ignore. Back in 2009, Chris Brown pleaded guilty to felony charges for assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna. This assault on Rhianna was in the public eye and plastered over all the media. This shocked many fans and those who followed the headlines as Chris Brown and Rhianna were an extremely high profile couple in the early 2000s. Regardless of publicity, the artist walked away from the crime with a minimal punishment and continues to commit crimes.
The most prominent argument arising from this case is the sentence Brown was given. He walked away with five years of probation and six months of community service. Was the amount enough for the crime committed? As of 2019, in the past ten years, Brown was charged multiple times for throwing phones out of windows and even smashing mirrors on Good Morning America. Recent charges have escalated to charges of rape (Spanos, 2018). During this time, he did not assault men, only women. A prime example of toxic masculinity is the fact that despite all of the violent incidents and horrible actions, he manages to stay relevant in pop culture, while facing little to no repercussions for his actions. Why are individuals oblivious to his abusive tendencies and willing to support him as an artist.
Similar to most top stories, every media source covers the topic differently. A scholarly journal analyzing the dating-abuse coverage in media utilized the Brown-Rihanna incident of 2009. The journal identified five categories of framing techniques. The techniques described were; abuse is objectionable, victim-blaming, abuse is sexualized/romanticized, myths about abuse perpetration and abuse are normalized. Many of the mentioned techniques were used in the instance of Chris Brown’s abuse which is the reason that in the wake of the event many people felt Brown was innocent (Siegel & DeJong).
Although some chose to ignore his private life, many individuals decided to take action against him. There is a debate on whether one should listen to an artist’s music after having committed a horrific crime. This debate has been applied to other celebrities including R Kelly and xxxentacion. Music from problematic artists can be very invasive, they can perpetuate our minds and still leave us with a sour taste in our mouths. (Greene, 2019) Another vice article challenges consumers to make a moral decision about what music we listen to. These are some alternate perspectives on the subject of problematic artists (Burney, 2018).
Some activism that has come out of this tragic case of Chris Brown has come from many forms of social media. With the internet, all the news stories featuring this violent behavior is being spread and spread very quickly. Many feminists on twitter have engaged in discourse about the situation of perpetual abuse that Chris Brown represents. the media’s complicit nature, in this case, is also a huge problem. (Johnny Firecloud, 2017) With the internet, our ability to report on and expose abusers in the music industry has become much easier. With a simple search, we can find out who these people are and what they have done. For instance, although Chris Brown has not faced any legal consequences when you search his name all of the terrible actions he has committed come up. The public has a lot of information about famous abusers that are accessible to them.