Flash forward to two years down the road when the ban has been lifted and your friend comes to you with a smile on her face and story about how much her ex-boyfriend has changed. Would two years be enough for you? Would you think that your friend was out of her mind? It’s likely a safe assumption to say that you wouldn’t be ready to high five your friend with the sentiment of “eh, two years is long enough.”
Chris Brown beat Rihanna to a pulp on the eve before The Grammys two years ago, and the whole world was up in arms about it. Brown was not only banned from the award show for the next two years, but also had to suffer the many understandable legal consequences for his actions. Rihanna did several interviews speaking out against abuse, telling her fans to stay out of relationships like the one she’d been a part of with Brown.
Two years has apparently become an eternity in Hollywood, because not only did The Grammys try to shove a Chris Brown “comeback” down our throats during their award show this year, but Rihanna is now flaunting the two singles she recently recorded with Brown on the Internet.
It would be “their business” and a non-issue if young girls weren’t stepping out because of this with Twitter posts about how much they wish that Chris Brown would “beat” them, and Hollywood wasn’t advertising this situation as a “comeback” just for a the sole purpose of selling some singles.
Rihanna may not have any control over the fact that she is viewed as a role model at this point in her life, but why speak out against abuse and the person who committed it to various news outlets only to turn around two years down the road and gloss it over as if nothing ever happened? She made herself a role model by becoming some kind of spokesperson against abuse, only to go back to publicly hanging out with her attacker. It makes her look weak, and it makes it look like she thinks it’s okay.
There are also television shows, such as the CW hit “Gossip Girl,” that make it seem glamorous or perfectly normal to want to be in an abusive relationship. One of the fan favorite couples recently had a moment in which the male punched a window subsequently cutting the female characters face, and the moment was brushed aside and excused as a moment of passion. Another couple on the show (involving the same female) recently made it seem completely fine for a man to dictate who the female could have in her life and why. This was glossed over with an explanation of “he’s a prince” and “he loves me.”
How is this acceptable in this day and age at all? An act of abuse should never be excused, let alone in the eye of the public or on a television show that is widely known for having a large teenage audience. You don’t speak out against abuse and then fan a later relationship with your abuser for the world to see, and you certainly don’t gloss it over with “let it go! It’s been two years.” You don’t excuse abuse on a television show just because the couple in question is a “fan favorite” or because the abuser is a “prince.”
