It seems that there is no end to the public relations nightmare that has become onetime-promising-singing-prodigy Chris Brown’s personal life. Now, another brawl threatens to further paint him as this generation’s Bobby Brown – a singer/dancer who wasted his god-given talents through a series of thuggish moves, questionable associations and unrepentant actions justified through the foggy lens of a persecution complex.
No matter how many albums Brown may or may not sell, the “Don’t Judge Me” singer continues to have his artistic merits eclipsed by antics outside the recording studio. As the world now knows, the latest incident involves fellow R&B singer Frank Ocean, who he began baiting with verbal barbs on Twitter – then recently saw the back-and-forth erupt in a violent, public altercation.
Way back in 2011, Brown attacked Ocean seemingly out of the blue, tweeting: “I f-ck wit Frank Ocean! Reminds me of a young James Fauntleroy or Kevin Cossum.”
Points for Ocean, however, who replied: “i f-cks wit chris brown, reminds me of a young sisqo or ike turner.”
Well, if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that Chris Brown doesn’t like to be one-upped. He fired back with a series of profanity-laden tweets, claiming that his initial comment only served to help Ocean’s album sales and that it was meant as a compliment. Yeah, okay.
“I was tryna help yo sales [n-word]. You f-ckin clown!” Brown clarified in his tweet. “You and [Tyler, The Creator] would be casted great for planet of the apes!”
The feud seemingly died down after that initial Twitter fight. That was, until this week.
Last night, in the aftermath of an altercation in a Los Angeles parking lot, Ocean accused Brown of assault. A report from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department confirmed Brown was involved, but did not name Ocean as the victim. The fight reportedly started over a parking space (because, you know, two able-bodied in their twenties shouldn’t have to walk an additional ten feet or so), and led to Brown punching Ocean in the face and the two singers’ entourages were physically separated.
Ocean tweeted about the altercation a short time later, writing “got jumped by chris and a couple guys. lol.” Police will interview both singers, and the department confirmed that Ocean is going forward with pressing charges.
Although the altercation may not be related to Ocean’s sexuality, the pairing of this attack and the infamous beating that nearly killed Rihanna shows Brown to have a notorious streak of intolerance.
Of course, Ocean came out as bisexual last summer in a letter on Tumblr, describing his first love as a man, so we could be venturing into the very serious business of hate-crime territory here. But, while Brown’s initial Twitter insults were perceived as homophobic, he denied the accusation. “Love who u wanna love,” he tweeted. “It’s ur decision.”
Chris Brown and his entourage were also involved in a violent altercation with rapper Drake and his entourage at a New York City nightclub in 2012 that left eight people injured, including basketball star Tony Parker. Neither party was arrested or charged, although the club did lose its liquor license.
Through it all, it seems like the more Brown opens up his mouth, the farther his foot gets stuck in it. Late Monday night, as the story hit the mainstream news, Brown took to Instagram to defend himself – in his own unique way. He posted a photograph of a painting of Jesus Christ on the cross and captioned it “Painting the way I feel today.” Because, you know, musicians comparing themselves to Christ always goes over so well with people.
Once again, Chris Brown has painted himself as the victim of a public tar-and-feathering. Which makes sense, because it was the public that forced him to type up Tweets about Frank Ocean, make him park so far away that he’d have to walk across a parking lot, and then jump Ocean and his crew.
Despite an intense public backlash that has gone on for years, Brown has never seemed apologetic about the Rihanna assault, even after all those brutally graphic photos hit the Internet depicting the brutality of the attack on a woman half his size. For now, Chris Brown continues to thrive off a devoted fanbase and entourage that seem likely to defend him and support him no matter how dangerous his actions become.
At this point all we can say is this: Chris, you may want to track down this guy, because in 1996 he was three years older than you, equally famous and successful, and living the same sort of life you are right now. Blaming everything on everybody but himself. In twenty years from now, do you really want to find yourself still in trouble with the law in your forties, responsible for the downward spiral of the love of your life, alone and bloated and finding your days filled with regret? Because, it seems like you and Bobby Brown may share a lot more than just a last name.