I Cannot Transform Chris Brown

Here is my confession- I love Chris Brown’s Transform Ya song. I can’t get it out of my head. I love the beat, the lyrics are slightly creative, and best of all I can dance to this song in my car! But, my issue with this song is not the song itself, but rather the performer.

The other day I was talking to my friend about Chris’ “Forever” song and she simply would not respond. I kept on questioning her, and she would not speak until a minute later when she said “I know the song, but I can’t like it because of Chris Brown.” She’s upset too because she really liked his catchy music, but after he took that first of far too many swings at Rihanna, my friend will not even speak of him anymore, and refuses to listen to his songs. I can understand this celebrity grudge, but honestly I feel like my friend is the only person that remembers the beating. I hear girls calling up the radio station, begging for Chris Brown tickets, and the announcers calling him cute. Uh… does anyone remember February, when Rihanna couldn’t sing at the Grammys because she was so badly beaten? It gives the line that Chris repeats over and over “I can transform ya” the image of Rihanna when I stop to think about it.

Chris is on probation for 5 years after beating up Rihanna so bad she was bleeding, bruised, even bitten! Probation for that? Really? Chris is a rich celebrity who can do more on probation than most average people can do in a lifetime- travel the world, make powerful friends, dance in front of thousands of screaming fans, go clubbing, drinking, (underage since he’s 20 or so) hooking up, is that really probation of anything? When celebrities mess up, are they more or less deserving of forgiveness? I don’t forgive him. He went on Larry King and barely admitted to any wrong doing. He’s not doing anything about outreach to young men about abuse, unlike organizations like Men Against Violence and Abuse. He’s telling reporters that he wishes Rihanna wouldn’t talk to the media about the episode. Chris wants to move on, but I believe he does not deserve such quick forgiveness.

Like it or not we watch and learn from celebrities, and even though they may not want to be role models, they are. And what Chris is telling young men through his actions is that they can get away with anything as long as they say sorry a few times, and still entertain. I don’t think that’s right, and so even though I really like his song I cannot reconcile his actions, and so I will try to push Transform Ya out of my head, and get something else stuck there.