Words: Orla Delargy
Love him or loathe him, he’s coming. Chris Brown is due to play the O2 on the 3rd of December, though it looks like he may have difficulty finding a support act. This week Irish band The Original Rudeboys rejected an offer to open for the international pop star in a month’s time, saying that supporting Chris Brown would “send out the wrong message” to their fans. Brown has been familiar with negative publicity of this kind since his attack on singer Rihanna in February of 2009, in which he punched her until she bled and sustained a black eye. The Original Rudeboys stated “we are completely against Chris Brown’s assault on Rihanna”, and most people agree with them. Women should not be beaten up by their boyfriends; hence Chris Brown did a very bad thing. However, beyond this consensus, there are far more complex moral questions to answer.
If artists face the dilemma of whether or not to collaborate with Brown, the public, too, ask themselves whether or not it is morally acceptable to listen to his music. When his songs come on in a club should we stop dancing and sit down? Should we turn off the radio when his hits are played and switch channels when he’s in an advertisement (such as the one for Wrigley’s Doublemint)? One writer on the feminist celebrity gossip site Jezebel.com said she would like to live in a world in which her ears could take out a restraining order against Chris Brown, and a Canadian music channel has recently developed the Chris Brownout app which deletes any mention of the singer from your Internet feed. Short of walking around with your hands over your ears, it certainly seems as though these drastic measures would be the only way to completely avoid him. As a person he is ubiquitous, appearing (and winning) at major award ceremonies like the Grammys and the BET awards, and his music is heard everywhere from clubs to cafés to women’s clothes shops.
But is it necessary for us to shun Brown’s music?
