Fan Backlash to Rihanna’s Collaboration With Chris

In the early morning of February 8th, 2009, just hours before some of the most iconic music stars would head to the Grammys, Chris Brown became infamous for abusing his now-ex-girlfriend, Rihanna. On the eve of the most talked-about music awards show in America, his actions shocked a nation and let down many of his supportive fans, letting the masses see an unfortunate example of everyday domestic abuse in the Hollywood spotlight. Celebrities are coveted, but this incident proved that they’re not as perfect or untouchable as some might think.

After the incident, Chris Brown was later sentenced to 5 years probation and more than 1,400 hours of labor-oriented service. His career that he had worked so hard for was on the line, and he lost a lot of his endorsements, fans, and respect – with good reason.

Three years later, after the 54th annual Grammy Awards back in February, it was announced that Rihanna and Chris Brown were collaborating, and a remix of Rihanna’s song “Birthday Cake” featuring Chris Brown was released just days later. Although the song has been tremendously popular, many people are outraged with Rihanna’s decision to work with Chris Brown again. And in a way, I do understand their perspective: how a woman should not let her abuser back into her life in any way, shape, or form. On the other hand, I think it is an interesting move on Rihanna’s part and it is extremely strong of her to make this step not only in her career, but also in her personal life.

I’m not trying to endorse anything about what Chris Brown did. His actions that day back in 2009 towards Rihanna were disgraceful, not only to her, but to his fans, to everything in his career that he had worked for, and most importantly, to women in general. This is just one case out of countless abusive relationships that just so happened to occur in the bright spotlight of Hollywood fame. Most women do not have the blessing to have their attacker so critically exposed in the public eye for his actions.

That being said, Rihanna didn’t choose that path, or what followed the incident. She didn’t choose to become a role model to millions of women around the world for her bravery and courage, nor did she choose to be a victim of abuse. When the public turns around to bash her for her actions three years after the incident, three years after she has come to peace with what happened, and three years after her music fame has continued to skyrocket, it just goes to show that they weren’t really behind her decisions all along. In the end, we really do just live up to our name as fans. We can support her decisions or not, but that does not change the fact that they are Rihanna’s personal decisions. In most other cases, others would not be able to ridicule her actions in such a harsh light as we are able to because of her fame. As long as Rihanna ends up with more Grammys than Chris Brown, I’m a happy camper.