For those who don’t know about this sad story, Rihanna is a beautiful, talented singer from Barbados, and the first Barbardian to ever win a Grammy award.
On February 8th, the night of this year’s Grammys – the biggest night in music – she was brutally beaten, apparently by her boyfriend, soul singer Chris Brown, apparently after an argument about another woman. Rihanna went to the hospital instead of the Grammys. 12 days later, she celebrated her 21st birthday in private, her birthday party having been canceled on account of her still visible bruises.
Enter the New York Daily News. As reported by Jason Linkins in the Huffington Post, the Daily News gossip column reported that Chris Brown had started taking anger management classes even though he “doesn’t actually have to go by law,” then rued that:
It tarnished Brown’s good-guy image so badly that several of his endorsement deals were suspended, including commercials for Wrigley’s gum and the Milk Mustache campaign. Brown’s songs have also been temporarily taken off the air at a handful of radio stations.
Even corporate America sometimes gets it right, huh? Then, less we forget who the real culprit is here, the News continues:
But insiders are rumbling that Chris shouldn’t be taking the anger management classes alone. “Rihanna is temperamental, too,” says our snitch. “They’re both too hot-headed for their own good.” Adds another source: “It didn’t help that Rihanna grabbed the keys out of his rented Lamborghini and threw them down the street. She knew it would really infuriate Chris, and it worked.”
It’s hard to express just how horrifying this anonymously sourced prattle is, or how dangerous, given the evolving views of teenagers towards domestic violence. Is this what the Daily News thinks she deserved for throwing car keys onto the street?
According to tmz.com, this photo, taken the day of the attack, is “mild compared to other photos … additional pics were taken on February 9, the day after the attack, and they are far more gruesome — the bruises and swelling far more pronounced.” Wow. The TMZ story goes on:
LAPD cops interviewed Rihanna after the attack and she told them Brown had been violent toward her in the past and that the attacks were getting “more violent” as time went on.
This is of course consistent with the typically escalating nature of domestic violence. Photos of Rihanna leaving the hospital on crutches after this beating also make you wonder about the story back in 2007 that Rihanna was on crutches after “accidentally running into a chair.”
The other sad part of this story is the reminder that this cycle of violence is part of a still larger, more destructive cycle. As Contactmusic.com reported in 2007, Chris Brown, perhaps prophetically, said:
I don’t want to mention the person’s name – it wasn’t my real father – but somebody hurt my mom and me, I had to deal with that from seven all the way to 13. It affected me, especially (my behaviour) towards women – I treat them differently. I don’t want to put a woman through the same thing that person put my mom through.
I was scared and timid when I was little. I used to pee in my bed … I think it was me being nervous, and scared to get up (out of bed) and see what was going on.
Chris Brown is just 19, and we should hope that he has insight and strength to break out of this destructive cycle, instead of passing it on as an unintended legacy to his own offspring. Let’s not write him off just yet. But in the mean time, it’s troubling to hear the rumors that he and Rihanna are reconciling. Like or it, in our society Rihanna is an inevitable role model for young women.
And she can do better.
