Elizabeth Banks

This commentary on the insane celeb world comes from Team Elizabeth’s Jason. He is über rad, smart, and always knee-deep in pop culture. Also, this blog is nuts. XX –EB

Chris Brown, notable R&B/pop star, is also an admitted abuser of his lady friends. Though I feel this makes him someone I’d like to never hear about again, it doesn’t seem to bother the music-buying public who sent his latest release to #1 this summer. Perhaps it’s a “separate the man from the artist” sort of thing? This is when supporters might bring up Richard Wagner’s notorious anti-Semitism, and the fact that we still enjoy HIS greatest hit at least a couple weddings a year.

It doesn’t seem to sufficiently bother Rihanna either. We watched her get all kissy-kissy with her abusive ex at the recent MTV Video Music Awards. Who’s to say whether or not she should forgive/forget? Who’s to say if Brown should be blackballed from popular culture for his past improprieties? The bigger question here is “what the hell is on your neck, good sir?”

Brown, seemingly in a race to nab Ink Magazine’s Person of the Year from the much-inked Rihanna, unveiled a new tattoo recently. “A rose? Or Japanese character?” you ask. No, no, no. Why bother with something so innocuous when you can taunt and provoke by getting what looks like a beaten woman on your person? So this is what he got.

Stay Classy: Being super weird in public...

Is it, as some have alleged, an image of an abused Rihanna? “No,” says hurt and offended Chris. Apparently, it’s a sugar skull, part of Day of the Dead (known as “Dia de los Muertos” in Mexico). “So what’s the big deeeeal?” you can almost hear him whine, shocked and offended that we’d expect less than exemplary behavior from him. 

The big deal is that if you’ve admitted to shooting someone to death, you don’t play with toy guns in public. If you’re a purse-snatcher, we don’t want you to play steal the bacon with us. And when you’ve admitted to beating up a woman, clever as it is to be a provocateur, maybe you should take an extra minute to think about getting a tattoo like this. For even the dummiest (yes, it’s now a word) of idiots among us would realize the potential fallout when getting kinda near the subject of your biggest eff-up.

I appreciate that, like any 23-year-old, Brown’s entitled to make some horrifically awful decisions. But where’s the manager, the agent, the friend, who’s willing to say “uh….dude? Wanna just get a yin yang/third eye kinda thing instead?” Where’s a parent or godparent with a raised, firm hand saying “just you try it!” Where’s the public saying “It’s just getting too stupid with you. I’ve got too many Trey Songzes or Taylor Swifts or ‘Gangnam Styles’ to deal with your nonsense?”

Who knows what the intention behind the tattoo really was, and if it matches up in any way to the public explanations he’s been giving. If nothing else, it’s in really poor taste, and verifies that if Brown doesn’t definitively need rehab or counseling of some kind, he certainly could use help with his decision-making skills. I know, “bad decision-maker” is low on Brown’s list of “terrible names I never want to be called.” Nonetheless, it’d be nice to see a popular, influential, and admittedly talented performer acting like he’s finally taken his head of his backdoor.

What do you guys think? Have people had enough of Chris Brown’s nonsense? Or will we forgive and forget again?

 Photo source: Jeff R. Bottari/Getty Images via UsMagazine.com