Unfortunately MuchMusic isn't providing an embed for their video clips of Wednesday's MuchTalks episode 'Chris Brown and Rihanna: Love Gone Wrong', but you can watch the episode, in four parts, here.The show was a bit disappointing. It was hard to take the many of the 'celebrity' 'pundits', few of whom have any professional experience dealing with issues relating to domestic violence, and therefore should not have been presented as authority on the subject, seriously.
Danny Fernandez contradicted himself right off the bat by stating first that it was ok to still love Chris Brown's music because "him as an artist and him as an individual are two different things." But he then agreed that an artist's personal life and the music they create an inextricably linked and "impossible" to separate. So which is it?
Few of the other pundits had anything concrete to say that wasn't mere gossip, although X's comment that all girls should learn self defense was, thankfully, shot down by the professional commentators from YWCA, Kids Help Phone and yes, White Ribbon Campaign and even the hosts themselves.
Aside from one audience member's baffling statement that "Rihanna pushed (Chris Brown) to the point... where he couldn't stop himself" the majority of the youth on hand seemed to agree with WRC's Tuval Dinner that "nobody deserves to be hit no matter what they do to provoke somebody else."
There's an interesting (albeit brief) rundown of the episode on AOL Music Canada. Apparently MTV aired a similar special that was even more exploitative of the issue and images.
Due to the celebrity status of Chris Brown and Rihanna, the underlying issue when people are discussion this particular case of alleged domestic violence is how esteemed gossip editorialists have become. We regard these people as an authority on all things.
But I digress. I should have just said:
Celebrity pundits: boo!
Proffesional pundits: yay!
2 comments:
Great post. I stumbled across your blog today because I'm doing research for our university's women's center and what approach we're going to take in educating the public about rape prevention.
Keep up the good work.
Great to see your commentary here. I was hoping to find something on the Rihanna/Chris Brown story on your site. The media coverage is infuriating and ignorant, to put it mildly. Thanks for stating the obvious and for doing the work you do. It is needed now more than ever.
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