Following the 2009 assault, Brown was sentenced to five years probation, 180 days community service and domestic violence counselling – most of which he has completed without delay (his probation will be up in 2014). Considering he has completed these terms of his sentence and offered several public apologies, is it not time
to allow him a second throw of the dice, free from stigma?
Brown’s fall from grace is harder for us to swallow because before his attack on Rihanna, we had set him up as an example to follow. These days, we don’t just want entertainers, we want role models – and we look for them in all the wrong places. In 2009, Brown told ABC News “I am very sad and very ashamed of what I’ve done… I intend to live my life so that I am truly worthy of the term ‘role model.’” But why do we want or need Chris Brown
as a hero? He has generated heaps of money by performing pop songs, but has done nothing else to recommend him as a person worthy of respect or admiration.
Pop stars are there to make light-hearted music and not to teach us life lessons. If we accept that fact, it becomes easy to recognise Chris Brown as something of an idiot who made a huge mistake and paid accordingly. Once we are not using him as a role model, feminists and the public may Turn Up The Music all they want.
