I’ve seen several items on the internet today about whether it’s time to forgive Chris Brown. He got some heavy-duty mock over the bawling at the Michael Jackson tribute. Some people are wondering if the public is ready to forgive him for beating up Rhianna.
Here’s how you know: It’s not what the scandal was over, it’s how over-inflated your stock was when it happened. The scandal is the moment where people re-evaluate the hype. And if you’re talent doesn’t come close to the buzz, forget it. You’re going to be out for a long, long time. If you ever come back.
Case in point, Mel Gibson. Mel was talented enough to survive when his only crime was being a bit of an arrogant jerk. But really, when it comes right down to it, he’s a good looking ham with about 3 acting moves and a pretty mediocre director, who got very, very lucky in having a string of hit movies. Then came a DUI, anti-Semitism, sugar tits, a messy divorce and, now, possibly domestic violence. Passion of the Christ ain’t going to pull you back out of that swamp. And his stock plummeted down to really what his market value should have been all along: C-list actor.
But, you say, all Tom Cruise did was jump on a couch, does he deserve to be in actor jail? Maybe not. But his stock had been over-inflated for years. He was the most popular, bankable actor on the planet, but he hadn’t pushed himself in 20 years. He’d been relying on a good smile and a flash of charisma pretty much since Top Gun. He went to the bad boy in need of the love of a good woman well far too often. And unfortunately for him, bouncing on the sofa was enough to make everyone rethink the hype. I actually suspect he might have a trick or two that we haven’t seen yet. But he’d played it safe so long there was no way to really justify his reputation. If he goes the path of trying new things, and maybe risking failure, he might just get out of jail, and approach his glory days (of thunder – sorry, had to be done).
My opinion? Chris Brown has never shown me anything that would lead me to believe that his talent has merited a resurrection. Good dancer, okay singer, who’d been over-hyped for years. There are certainly plenty of performers out there who are just as talented, if not more so. And don’t have the stink of being an abuser on them. Michael Jackson barely survived one of the worst types of scandals that there can be. But he was talented. Believe the hype. Chris Brown is no Michael Jackson.
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4 comments:
For me, Tropic Thunder totally redemmed Cruise - he put it OUT there. Yee-ha!
Chris Brown - he was 'meh' to me before, but that is beside the point. You get NO 2nd chance in my book for beating a woman - none, nada, never. Talented as heck or not.
I can actually imagine a situation where Chris Brown might have become relevant to me again - a genuine effort at counseling, volunteering for a women's shelter (all out of the public eye for a good couple of years), then, and only then, coming back with a killer album. But 1) he made a public spectacle of his truly weak efforts at reform, 2) he tried to coattail on Michael Jackson (again - weak!) and 3) there's little to no chance he'd have a killer album. He's no Usher. He's not even NeYo, in my book. I'd considered his career to be dead-dead-deadski.
I haven't forgiven R. Kelly. That man is a total perv, but the public overall seems to think he's okay. As much as I love his sweet voice, when I hear an R. Kelly song I immediately change the channel.
Chris Brown might have a shot if he does as J says, BUT he better walk the walk and wait a couple of years before the public will truly forgive him.
R. Kelly has more lives than Marion Berry. I think part of it is that he stays not just in R&B, but in black-focused R&B. The black community just tends to be more forgiving, and less trustful of media reports of bad behavior in the first place. Chris Brown is more in that cross-over area, and he's just not going to get as much slack from the public at large. He might try to re-brand himself as an urban contemporary act, but that's not where the big money is.
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