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Rihanna responded directly to Hoeke via Twitter today, expressing her anger about the editorial.  The Dutch editor decided to call it quits over the ordeal today, claiming that people misunderstood her “joke.”

“I realize that my first reaction through Twitter, in which I indicated that it was a joke, has been an incomplete description of what me, and also the author of the article, meant. The term ‘niggabitch’ came from America and we solely used it to describe a style of dress. Because of the enormous pressure through social media I was tempted to promise amendment regarding the language in future issues of Jackie. Apart from that I also offered an rectification.

Read more at Parlourmagazine.com

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Apparently, she has gotten over the domestic violence drama her son took Rihanna through.

Today Chris Brown’s mother, Joyce Hawkins, who goes by @mombreezy on Twitter is adding fuel to the firestorm of rumors that her son and Rihanna are indeed getting back together.

This morning, the “Forever” singer’s mom tweeted a random message to and unknown gal.

“HELLO LADY I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!!!!!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!”

An hour later Rihanna tweeted a message of Love back to an unknown person.

“Miss+Love u 2″

Perhaps time does heal all wounds-figuratively and literally.

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—–

This month, NewsOne presents a special exploration of Black Americans’ influence on social media, #TWEETING WHILE BLACK.

—–

Twitter has amassed more than 300 million users since its public launch in 2006, and a Pew Research Center survey shows that African Americans are more likely to Tweet than any other demographic. There is some speculation that this is because the median age among African Americans is currently skewing seven years younger than that of Whites — which can then be linked to smartphone usage and interest in the celebrities and media outlets (like BET’s 106 & Park), that rank among the most followed — but no conclusive study has been conducted.

SEE ALSO: INFOGRAPHIC: A History Of Black Twitter

But there’s no doubt that Black Americans are among the most effective and powerful users of Twitter, and that their influence is far out of proportion to their share of population.

Here is NewsOne’s official list of the Top 10 Black Tweeters. Are you following them?

1. @BarackObama: 11,449,382 Followers)

The account is run by his #Obama2012 campaign staff with at least daily updates on Presidential happenings. Much less frequently, he’ll chime in (he signs these Tweets “-BO”): “This dinner is important because I’m only president thanks to the work of millions of Americans like the four I just met.” (He dined with a teacher, an entrepreneur, a postal worker, and an artist who all donated at least $3 to his campaign and won the “Dinner With Obama” contest.)

2. @rihanna: 10,428,259 Followers

Her Tweets range from a Happy Birthday @britneyspears to quoting Jay Z to self-promotional commentary on her own social gaffes like “Shooting another vid in Ireland today!No farm this time :( … Im shooting another #ARMANI campaign Spring/Summer!Try to sneek u a pic ;)”

3. @Oprah: 8,456,870 Followers

She’s surprisingly not new age-preachy on this Twitter account. Instead, the media mogul posts one word response to her followers (“hi”), smiley face icons, and the occasional update of what it’s like to be Oprah: “Just saw Hugh Jackman on Broadway. WOW was he awe inspiring. He BROUGHT IT. Sang it, danced it and THREW DOWN!”

4. @NICKIMINAJ: 7,560,448 Followers

Between her Pink Friday promotions and congratulations to @maryjblige for her new album, the platinum-selling artist spends most of her Tweets thanking her Barbz and acting in cyber-speak: “Thank u my loves. I couldn’t do this w/o you. I am overwhelmed. I’m in love w/u guys. How could one girl be this lucky? *holds u close*”

5. @chrisbrown: 6,011,182 Followers

He still has a considerable following after recently deleting most of his Tweets. Now, Young Brezzy’s account is sporadic, sparse words like: “ELEVATE MENTALITY” and “Live LIFE!”

6. @MariahCarey: 5,314,200 Followers

With her record-breaking 1993 release, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” still charting and recently being remixed by Justin Beiber, Mrs. Cannon is using her Twitter to count down the days ‘til 25th, and bubble about her new song with John Legend, “When Christmas Comes.” She also takes a moment to shout out her second cousin’s sweet sixteen, post a Twitpic of herself in the booth, and send a note to O.D.B.: “Happy birthday & RIP to the late great O.D.B! I miss you & love you. “Ol’ dirty bastard across the globe.” – Fantasy.. classic, forever. Xo”

7. @aliciakeys: 5,284,370 Followers

Besides the occasional personal Tweets to the likes of @traciellisross, she’s all business on her account promoting her Keep A Child Alive cause, the Broadway play “Sticky Fly” that she produced, and her job as a “light bearing mommy/artist/songwriter/musician…”: “‘You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watching and love like it is never going to hurt ~ Ann Wells’.”

8. @50Cent: 5,301,573 Followers

He goes in multiple times per day, and will sometimes drop insight like how amazing it was to see Goldie Hawn and @deepackchopra live, but in true 50 fashion is mostly about the marketing strategy: “Streetking is the movement I’m not reading or retweeting if I don’t see SK in your tweets I need your help hold me down” (referencing his energy drink partnership with the United Nation to feed the hungry).

9. @kanyewest: 5,251,094 Followers

Only a select group of Tweeters have millions of followers without following anyone at all (the Dalai Lama, Rev Run, and Lord Valdermort), and, of course, Kanye tops that list. But it’s not the arrogant, Ye-centricity that one may expect. He expresses gratitude with a thank you to HipHopDX.com for a “tasteful well written review,” Chicagoan camaraderie with a re-Tweet of Bears stats mid-game, and just genuine goodwill: “Support Michael J. Fox foundation & NIKE and the fight against Parkinson’s”

10. @SnoopDogg: 5,222,697 Followers

He’s got a narrowed-eye focus on #macanddevin via many daily Tweets. The only thing that’ll make him take a breather from his new joint album with Wiz Khalifa is news of his Snoop Youth Football League Superbowl game and his family: “Sunday n vegas syfl superbowl go hard or go home! Happy 2 b home. Cocori! N tae tae !! Love yall!!”

SEE THE ENTIRE #TWEETINGWHILEBLACK SERIES HERE

METHODOLOGY:

List derived from Twitaholic.com, data updated via Twitter.com

RELATED: Rihanna Shows Softer Side In Family Home Video

How a superstar like Rihanna can generate more than 100 million Youtube hits for one song, yet not have enough money to keep her home is a surprise indeed.

We learned that Rihanna is SHORT SELLING her mansion. The Bajan singer is asking sellers to pay $2.5 MILLION LESS than the amount she paid for the home just two years ago.

The home was just put up for listing – and is being listed as a SHORT SALE – meaning that Rihanna’s MORTGAGE on the home is greater than the amount of money she’s ASKING.

Check out the rest of the story at MediaTakeOut.com

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Staff member Eileen Kelly criticized Rihanna’s newest video, “We Found Love,” calling it disgraceful.

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“Rihanna’s new video is a disgrace,” said Kelly. “It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases.”

This is not the first time a Rihanna video has caused controversy due to violence, as several groups criticized her “Man Down Video” for promoting murder.

The Grio reports:

Eileen Kelly of the Rape Crisis Center in the UK says she’s concerned about a scene in the video where Rihanna’s “boyfriend” tattoos the word “mine” on the singer’s backside.

“Rihanna’s new video is a disgrace. It sends the message that she is an object to be possessed by men, which is disturbingly what we see in real violence cases,” Kelly said in an interview with Britain’s popular tabloid newspaper, Daily Star.

Read More At The Grio

Rihanna tells Esquire magazine that disliking Brown was taking up too much of her time and she’s “really excited to see the breakthrough he’s had in his career.”

Brown is serving five years of probation after pleading guilty to assault for the attack on Rihanna in February 2009. The singer released the CD “Graffiti” later that year and it was a commercial disappointment. His latest album “F.A.M.E.” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart in March.

Rihanna says she’s impressed by Brown’s perseverance “even when the world seemed like it was against him.”

The November issue of Esquire hits newsstands on Oct. 16.

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A few days ago, R&B superstar Rihanna gave a trademark edgy performance on the London leg of her tour. But perhaps this time, even the not-so-shy entertainer pushed the envelope a bit too far when she allegedly placed two of her fingers in her private area while on stage. As people from all age brackets watched her in that arena, and subsequently around the world in videos and pictures, I have to ask what sort of message is being sent to young women? And just as importantly, what are we saying to the world about the role of Black women in society?

To be fair, Rihanna isn’t to blame for all of our problems, but when we begin to openly display ourselves in this manner, we simply can’t turn around and then command respect. Just as we are tired of supporting Black men who can’t get it together, many of them who have it together don’t want some of us and rightfully so. Bottom line is, if you want quality, you must also give quality – and that means in every aspect of life.

And ladies, maybe we are sometimes passing up on the good men out here. Instead of looking for someone with good credit, a steady job, ambition and education, we are sometimes blinded by money, cars and flashy materialistic things and he better have gangsta sex (stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about). It’s important to remember that just like Rihanna’s performance is entertainment and not reality, so too are many of the superficial things we value around us.

When it comes down to it, it’s all pretty simple: you get what you give priority to. In these tough times, it’s important to figure out precisely what’s important to us as women so that there’s no question as to whether or not we’ll be sticking by our men or if they are sticking by us, but that both sides are worthy to be loved!

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Graham says he enforced a dress code as he watched Rihanna shoot a video Monday in his wheat field in Bangor, east of Belfast, for her new single, “We Found Love.” She’s in Northern Ireland this week to perform three concerts.

The 23-year-old switched from a flannel checked shirt into a stars-and-stripes bikini, a red bra, a mesh black top, and finally went topless before Graham climbed off his tractor to protest.

“The state of undress was becoming inappropriate,” Graham says. “I had a conversation with Rihanna. I hope she understands where I’m coming from. We shook hands.”

Hordes of locals gathered to watch the pop star film the video.

..

Traditional media continues to play a crucial role in the way the world perceives Black women. For years Black women have been portrayed as the hypersexual jezebel, money-hungry gold digger, welfare queen, or loud-mouthed-liar. In recent years, some Black media outlets and their viewers have also joined their mainstream counterparts recasting the Black female victim as villain.

Here are just a few examples in recent history:

Nafissatou Diallo

Nafissatou Diallo is the 32-year-old refugee from Guinea who has accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault at the Sofitel hotel where she worked as a maid.  Originally depicted as an innocent-poor-African woman who assaulted by a rich and powerful man, she has quickly become the villain.  According to media she is a greedy, lying, “AIDS predator” in cahoots with her incarcerated boyfriend. She has been reduced to a “cheap trick” who voluntarily performed oral sex on DSK, and only got upset after he refused to pay her.

Rihanna

In 2009, Rihanna, a chart-topping singer known for her strength, beauty, and voice was severely beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown. Despite photographic proof of her bloody and beaten body, Rihanna was put under social media’s microscope and picked apart – her every move was painfully and publicly scrutinized. By some writers and fans, she was no longer regarded as a victim of domestic violence, but instead a provocateur with a bad attitude. She was cast as a hot-tempered Caribbean woman who made a living gyrating before a camera, scantily clad in her music videos. She was the epitome of “bad girl.”

Robin Givens

In 1989, Robin Givens went from a star on the small screen to being called “the most hated woman in America” after her marriage to Mike Tyson ended with a reported $10 million settlement. Givens went public on a number of occasions alleging that she was the victim of repeated domestic violence at the hands of the world’s former heavyweight champion. Despite her claims of being abused by Tyson, she was portrayed as a lying, violent, gold-digger who was out to sabotage her husband.

Anita Hill

Anita Hill alleged that Clarence Thomas, her then-supervisor at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, had sexually harassed her. At Thomas’ 1991 U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing she testified that he subjected her to vulgar descriptions of pornography he had watched and continuously bragged in graphic detail about his sex life. Despite her brave stance to come forward when sexual harassment cases were uncommon, she was boldly painted as a “nutty” and “slutty” woman who had a “perverse desire for male attention.”

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“When Sherwood discovered that Rihanna was from a Caribbean island, he told Robinson to ‘tax the hell out of her’ and find a way to allow Gucci to withhold 30 per cent of her fee,” Robinson’s lawsuit alleges.

Robinson is seeking $5 million in damages for what she calls “an unrelenting barrage of racist comments and jokes at her expense by Sherwood and others at Gucci”, the New York Post reports. She was dismissed by the company last year, she alleges, after she complained about the treatment.

Read The Whole Story

RELATED STORIES

Rihanna Defends “Man Down” Music Video’s Violent Scenes

Rihanna Video Criticized For Promoting Murder

On Tuesday, the Parents Television Council called the clip “disturbing” and asked BET to stop airing it.

But on Thursday’s “106 & Park,” BET’s music video countdown show, Rihanna said the video is “art with a message.”

VIDEO:

“We just wanted to hone in on a very serious matter that people are afraid to address, especially if you’ve been victimized in this scenario,” Rihanna said.

BET says it will continue to play the video, explaining that the network “has a comprehensive set of standards and guidelines that are applied to all of our content” and that Rihanna’s video “complied with these guidelines and was approved for air.”

MTV hasn’t played the video. A MTV representative said they’re “in the process of reviewing the video.”

Rihanna, who was attacked by then-boyfriend Chris Brown in February 2009, says she doesn’t agree with violence.

Brown attacked Rihanna on the eve of the Grammys two years ago. He pleaded guilty to a felony and was sentenced to five years’ probation.

“I’ve been abused in the past and you don’t see me running around killing people in my spare time,” she said.

But the 23-year-old says rape happens too often and those victims need a voice.

“If I can be a voice for so many that aren’t heard, then I win twice,” she said.

The “Man Down” clip was directed by Anthony Mandler, who has directed other Rihanna videos.

The Grammy winner says she didn’t intend to make a controversial music video. She was hoping to display her acting skills and create “something raw and artistic.”

The video for “Man Down” has not yet appeared on iTunes. A rep for iTunes said that decision is up to the label.

An email seeking comment from Rihanna’s record label went unreturned Thursday.

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How Many Times Should A Black Man (Chris Brown) Apologize?

” ‘Man Down’ is an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song,” said Industry Ears co-founder Paul Porter, a former programming director at BET.

The PTC lamented that Rihanna had a “golden opportunity” to use her celebrity status to send an important message to young girls and victims of rape and domestic violence with the clip, but had missed the mark. “Instead of telling victims they should seek help, Rihanna released a music video that gives retaliation in the form of premeditated murder the imprimatur of acceptability,” said the PTC’s Melissa Henson.

Read The Whole Story

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Ciara is claiming that a tweet she made yesterday was taken out of context and was not an insult aimed towards Rihanna, who she previously had Twitter beef with.

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“Well, well, well……u dont say……:)” the tweet read. Many assumed the tweet was a retort to a comment Rihanna made towards Ciara during their infamous Twitter battle in late February. Rihanna said that Ciara couldn’t book concert gigs due to her declining popularity.

Ciara says that it’s all a misunderstanding and that she was not talking about Rihanna in that tweet.

“Well, well, well, u dont say..i didnt say any thing about any1 and a story is created,” Ciara tweeted. “There is no need for me to hide what i feel or be subliminal when it pertains to that situation. If i had anything to say i would have said it directly. i didnt realize the timing of my statement until i saw my timeline. As i told the girl, wrong direction..#stayingpositve” (Read the tweets on Twitter here: 1, 2, 3)

Yesterday, it was revealed that Rihanna’s current concert tour is experiencing sluggish ticket sales, with only 3,700 tickets being sold for an upcoming show in Boston. The star would need to sell at least 15,000 tickets just to break even.

RELATED: Rihanna & Ciara Beef On Twitter

RELATED: “Rihanna” & “Ciara” Talk About Their Twitter Beef [VIDEO]

Below is an open letter written by NewsOne contributor Kevin Powell to Chris Brown.

Dear Chris,

I really did not want to write this open letter, and would have preferred to speak to you in person, in private. Indeed, ever since the domestic violence incident with Rihanna two years ago there have been attempts, by some of the women currently or formerly in your circle, women who love and care deeply about you, to bring you and I together, as they felt my own life story, my own life experiences, might be of some help in your journey. For whatever reasons, that never happened. By pure coincidence, I wound up in a Harlem recording studio with you about three months ago, as I was meeting up with R&B singer Olivia and her manager. You were hosting a listening session for your album-in-progress and the room was filled with gushing supporters, with a very large security guard outside the studio door. I was allowed in, as I assume you knew my name, and my long relationship to the music industry. I greeted you and said I would love to have a talk with you, but I am not even sure you heard a single word I said above the loud music. I gave your security person my card when I left, asked him to ask you to phone me, but you never did, for whatever reasons. And that is fine.

But I have thought of you long and hard as I’ve watched you, from a distance, as you dealt with the charges of physical violence against your then-girlfriend Rihanna, as you were being pummeled by the media and abandoned by many fans, admirers, and endorsers, and ridiculed on the social networks. You were 19 when the altercation with Rihanna occurred, and you are only 21 now. Yes, you’ve achieved both international fame and success in a way most people your age, or any age, could never imagine. But you also are at a very serious crossroads because of the dishonor of your persona derived from your beating Rihanna. There is no way to get around this, Chris. You must deal with it, as a man, now and forever. For our past can both be a prison we are locked in permanently or it can be the key to our freedom if we glean the lessons from it, and deal with it directly. All the external pressures and forces will be there, Chris, but no one can free us but ourselves. And it must start in our minds and in our souls.

That is why I was very saddened to hear about your recent appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” to promote your new cd “F.A.M.E.” The interview was embarrassing, to say the least, you slouched through the entire episode, and you were so clearly defensive as Robin Roberts, the interviewer, threw you what I thought were very easy questions about the Rihanna saga. I get that you want to move past it. But that is not going to happen, Chris, until people see real humility, real redemption, and real changes in how you conduct yourself both publicly and privately. Whether the interview and what happened at ABC studios were a publicity stunt to push your album sales is not the point (as has been suggested in some online blogs). It has been spread across the internet, and throughout the world, that you ripped off your shirt following that interview, got in the face of one of the show’s producers in a threatening manner, and that somehow the window in your dressing room was smashed with a chair. And then there are the photos of you, shirtless, walking outside the ABC studios looking, well, pissed off, immediately after. Finally, you tweeted, somewhere in the midst of that morning, Chris, “I’m so over people bring this past s**t up!! Yet we praise Charlie Sheen and other celebs for [their] bullsh**t.”

Yes, that tweet was taken down very quickly, but not before it was spread near and far also, Chris. And it was a tweet written with raw honesty and, for sure, raw emotion. Very clear to me, as it is to so many of us watching your life unfold in public, that you are deeply wounded, that you are hurt by what you have experienced the past two years. That you’ve never actually healed from what you witnessed as a child, either, of your mother being beaten savagely by your stepfather, and how that must’ve made you feel, in your bones. You’ve said in interviews, long before the Rihanna incident happened, that it made you scared, timid, and that you wet the bed because of the wild, untamed emotions that swirled in your being. I am certain you felt powerless, just as powerless as I felt as a boy when my mother, who I love dearly and have forgiven these many years later, viciously beat me, physically and emotionally, in an effort to discipline me, to prepare me, a Black man-child, for what she, a rural South Carolina-born and bred working-class woman, perceived to be a crude and racist world.

But the fact is, Chris, we cannot afford to teach children, directly or indirectly, that violence and anger in any form are the solutions for our frustrations, disagreements, or pain, and not expect that violence and anger to penetrate the psyche of that child. To be with that child as he, you, me, and countless other American males in our nation, grow from boy to teenager to early adulthood. Ultimately it will come out in some channel, either inwardly on themselves in the manner of serious self-repression, self-loathing, and fear. Or outwardly in the shape of blind rage and violence, against themselves, against others, including women and girls.

You see, Chris, I know much about you because I was you in previous chapters of my life. I am presently in my 40s, a practitioner of yoga, and someone who has spent much of the past 20 years in therapy and counseling sessions. I shudder to think who I would be today had I not made a commitment to constant self-reflection and healing. Yes, like most human beings I do get angry at times, but it is in a very different kind of way, I think long and hard about my words and actions, and if I do make a mistake and offend someone in some way verbally or emotionally, I apologize as quickly as I can. And I am proud to say I have not been involved in a violent incident in many years, that I am about love, peace, and nonviolence now, and this is my path for the rest of my life. I am not willing to go backwards, nor am I going to permit anyone or any scenario to take me backwards, either.

But, Chris, it was not always like this for me. The hurt and pain I felt as a child led to arguments and fights in my grade and high schools: arguments with teachers and principals and physical fights with my classmates. This in spite of the fact I possessed, very early on, the same kind of talents you had coming up. Mine is writing and yours is music. And because we both had gifts that people recognized, the more problematic sides of our personas were often overlooked, or ignored completely. In reality, Chris, I attended four grade schools and three high schools partly because my single mother and I (I am an only child) were very poor, and forced to move a lot; and partly because of my behavioral issues at various schools. Many adults could not understand it because I was routinely a straight-A student breezing through everything from math and science to English.

Yet I was no different than countless American children terrorized by their environments, with no true outlets to understand, and heal, what we were experiencing. That is why, Chris, I eventually was kicked out of Rutgers University, why I got into arguments with my cast mates on the first season of MTV’s “The Real World,” and why I often had beef with my co-workers, as a twenty something hot shot writer at Quincy Jones’ Vibe magazine. And why I was eventually fired from Vibe, Chris, in spite of writing more cover stories than any other writer in the magazine’s history. There was always a darkness in my life, Chris, a heavy sadness, born of years of wounds piled one on top of the other. And I did not begin to grasp this until a fateful day in July 1991 when I pushed my girlfriend at the time into a bathroom door in the middle of an argument. As I have written in other spaces, Chris, when she ran from the apartment, barefoot, it was only then that I recognized the magnitude of what I had done. Just like you I had to deal with public embarrassment and court and a restraining order. But the big difference, Chris, is that a community of people, both women and men, saw potential in me, the boy struggling to be a man, in the early 1990s, and rather than shun me or push me aside or write me off completely, they instead opted to help me.

The first step was returning to therapy, as I had done briefly in 1988 after being suspended from Rutgers for threatening a female student. The next step was my struggling to take ownership for every aspect of my life, and not just that bathroom door incident. That meant, Chris, I had to go very far into my own soul, and return, time and again, to being that little boy who had been violated and abused, and meet him, on his terms. I assure you, Chris, it was extremely difficult to do that, and I put off many issues for months, even years, unwilling or unable to look myself in the mirror. Add to that the sudden celebrity of my life on MTV and at Vibe, and I found myself around many other people who were living escapist lives, who were not bothering to deal with their demons, either. That, Chris, is a recipe for disaster, for a life stuck in a state of arrested development. The worst thing we could ever do is only be in circles of people who are wallowing in their own miseries, too, yet covering it up with fame, money, material things, sex, drugs, alcohol, and an addiction to acting out because that is much easier than actually growing up.

As a matter of fact, as I watched your “Good Morning America” interview, and read the accounts of what happened after, I thought a good deal about the late Tupac Shakur, who I interviewed more than any other journalist when he was alive. Tupac was, Chris, without question, equally the most brilliant and the most frustrating interview subject I’d ever encountered. Brilliant because his abilities as an actor (imagine what he could have been had he lived) were towering, and his writing skills instantly connected him with the man-child in so many American males, especially those of us who grew up as he did, without a consistent and available father figure or mentor, and with some form of turmoil in our lives. But, Chris, I could see the writing on the wall from the very beginning, of Tupac’s downfall, because he willingly participated in it, encouraged it, openly advertised it every single time he rhymed about dying, or spoke about a short shelf life in one of his interviews. I do believe each and every one of us human beings is given a certain amount of time on this planet. I for one feel very blessed to be here as long as I have been, especially given my past destructive paths. But I also believe, Chris, that so many of us participate in what I call self-sabotage, or slow suicide. That is, because we do not have the emotional and spiritual tools to process the many angles of our lives, we instead resort to predictable behavior that may feel empowering or liberating on the surface, but is actually damaging to us, and doing even more harm to us.

For an instance when I looked at the photo of you, shirtless, with the shiny tattoos across your chest, I saw myself, I saw Tupac Shakur, I saw all us American Black boys who so badly want to be free, who so badly want to be understood, who feel life unfair for labeling us “angry,” “difficult,” “violent,” “abusive,” “criminals,” or “cocky” or “arrogant.” Yes, Chris Brown, in spite of Barack Obama being president of the United States, America still very much has a very serious problem with race and racism, which means it still has a very serious problem with Black males who act out or behave badly, who speak their minds, who assert themselves in some way or another. I know that is what you are reacting to, Chris. And you are not wrong in tweeting that Charlie Sheen is catching a break in a way that you are not. I am very clear that Charlie Sheen’s father is Latino and his mother is White. But Charlie Sheen operates in a space of White male privilege because of his White skin and his access to White power, and thus he is given a pass for his violent, abusive, mean-spirited, and drug-addicted outbursts in a way you or I never will, Chris. Charlie Sheen, as insane as it appears, is even celebrated in many circles because of how American male (read, White male) privilege can exist while ignoring the concerns of those he has harmed, including women. That is why, Chris, I rarely discuss in public the chapter of my life that is MTV’s “The Real World.” In spite of who I am as a whole human being, my numerous interests and skill sets, the one thing that was played up were the arguments I had with my White cast mates. So I was labeled, for years and years, Chris, as “the angry Black man,” something that troubled me as deeply as you were bothered on “Good Morning America” by the Rihanna questions. And how certain media folks, including Joy Behar on “The View,” must bother you calling you a “thug,” in spite of the obvious racial overtones of such a loaded word. If you are a thug, then what is Charlie Sheen, or Mel Gibson, or John Mayer, or Jude Law, or any other famous White male who has engaged in bad behavior the past few years? Why are they often forgiven, given a pass, allowed to clean themselves up and to redeem themselves in a way Black males simply cannot, Chris? It is because, to paraphrase Tupac, we were given this world, we did not make it. And it is because of power, Chris, plain and simple. Whoever has the power to put forth images and words, to put forth definitions, to determine what is right and what is wrong, can just as easily label you a star one day and a thug and a has-been the very next day. Or make you, a Black male, the poster child, for every single bad behavior that exists in America. Just ask Black males as diverse as Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, or Kanye West. No apologies being made by me for these men or their actions, but the chatter, always, in Black male circles is how we are treated when we do wrong as opposed to how our White brothers are treated when they do wrong. Call it racial or cultural paranoia if you’d like. We Black brothers call it a ridiculously oppressive double standard. And that is because America has historically had a very complicated and twisted relationship with Black men, ranging from slavery to the first heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson to Malcolm X and Dr. King both, and including men like Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson, Prince, and, yes, Barack Obama. Sometimes we feel incredible love and affection, and sometimes we feel as if we are unwanted, armed, and dangerous. It is a schizophrenic existence, to say the least, and it is akin to how the character Bigger Thomas, in Richard Wright’s classic but controversial novel “Native Son,” saw his life reduced to the metaphor of a cornered black rat. Thus so many of us spend our entire lives, as Black males, navigating this tricky terrain, so few of us with the proper emotional and spiritual tools to balance our coolness with a righteous defiance that, well, will not get us killed, literally and figuratively, by each other or the police, or by the American mass media culture.

I am telling you the truth, Chris Brown, man-to-man, Black man to Black man, because you need to hear it, straight up, no chaser. If you really believe that because you are famous and successful that the same rules apply to you, you are deceiving yourself. Like many, I love people, regardless of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, disability, religion, any of that, and I believe deeply in the humanity and equality of us all. But until we have a nation, and a world, where the media places the same energy and excitement in documenting a Black man who is engaging in, say, mentoring work, as it does in a Black man smashing a window at a television station, then we are sadly fooling ourselves, Chris, that things are fair and equal in this universe. They are not. And sometimes it will be big things, like what you just experienced, Chris, at “Good Morning America,” and sometimes it will be quieter moments, far off the radar, where we Black men have to think on the fly about who we are, what we represent, how others perceive us or may want to perceive us, how we say things to people, particularly our White sisters and brothers, for fear or worry of being misunderstood and being pegged as “problematic” or a “troublemaker,” and magically navigate best we can to assert our humanity, our dignity, our leadership, our visions and ideas and dreams, and, yes, our definitions of manhood rooted in our very unique cultural journeys. Complete insanity, this emotional and spiritual juggling act, no question, and our harsh reality in this world, my friend.

So what you have to understand, Chris, and what I had to grapple with for years, is there is no escaping your past, especially if we engage in angry or violent behavior. If we do not confront it, probe and understand it, heal and learn from it, and use what we’ve learned to teach others to go a different way, then it dogs us forever, Chris, and we unwittingly become the entertainment, nonstop, for others. And that simply does not have to be the case for you, Chris. You are too much of a genius to allow this to destroy you, but your self-destruction is exactly what many of us are witnessing. I have no idea who is around you at this point, or what kind of men, specifically, are advising you, but the worst possible thing you could do is act as if what happened with Rihanna was no big deal. It was and is a major deal because women and girls, in America, and on this earth, are beaten, stabbed, shot, murdered, raped, molested, every single day. Because of your fame you have become, unfortunately, a poster child for this destructive behavior in spite of your proclaiming just a few years before, in a magazine interview, you would never do to a woman what had happened to your mother. What I gathered, very quickly, Chris, after I pushed that girlfriend back in 1991, was that I could not hide from my demons or myself. That is why I wrote an essay in Essence magazine in September 1992 entitled “The Sexist in Me.” That is why I made it a point to listen to women and girls in my travels, in my community, even within my family, tell stories of how they had been violated or abused by one man or another. And that is why, Chris, nearly twenty years later, so much of my work as a leader, as an activist, as a public speaker, is dedicated to ending violence against women and girls. In other words, I took what was a very negative and hurtful experience, for that girlfriend, and for myself, and transformed it into a life of teaching other males how to deal with their hurts without hurting others, particularly women and girls.

Tupac Shakur, Chris, never got to turn the corner, as you well know, because he was gunned down at age 25. I do not know if he actually raped or sexually assaulted the woman in that hotel room as he was charged. But one thing he did admit to me, Chris, in that famous Rikers Island interview, was that he could have stopped his male friends from coming into his hotel room and sexually exploiting his female companion that night. And he did not. You, Chris Brown, cannot turn back the hands of time to February 2009. We have seen the photos of Rihanna’s battered and bruised face. Yes, you’ve apologized, yes, you’ve done your time in court and your hours of community service, and yes, and you have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. But it is really up to you, Chris, to decide in these tense moments, as you approach your 22nd birthday on May 5th, if you want to be a boy forever locked in the time capsule of your own battered and bruised life, or if you want to be the man so many of us are rooting for you to be, one who will take responsibility for all his actions, who will sit up in interviews and answer all questions, even the uncomfortable ones. And the kind of man who will admit, once and for all, publicly, privately, however you must do it, that you need help, that you need love, that you need to love yourself in a very different kind of way, that you no longer will hide behind an album release, music videos, dyed hair, tattoos, or even your twitter account, Chris Brown. That you will make a life-long commitment to counseling, to therapy, to healing, to alternative definitions of manhood rooted in nonviolence, love, and peace, that you will become a loud and consistent voice against all forms of violence against women and girls, wherever you go, as I do, for the rest of your life. All eyes are on you because you’ve brought the world to your doorstep, my friend. The question alas, Chris, is do you want to go forward or not? And if yes to going forward, then you must know it means going to the deepest and darkest parts of your past to heal what ails you, once and for all, for the good of yourself, and for the good of those who are watching you very closely and who may learn something from what you do. Or what you do not do. The choice is yours, Chris Brown. The choice is yours—

Godspeed,
Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell is an activist, public speaker, and award-winning author or editor of 10 books, including Open Letters to America (essays) and No Sleep Till Brooklyn (poetry). Kevin lives in Brooklyn, New York. Email him at kevin@kevinpowell.net or follow him on Twitter @kevin_powell

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The R&B star exploded in a rage behind the scenes. The eruption was not caught on camera.

He joined co-anchor Robin Roberts for the interview as part of promotion of his brand new album, F.A.M.E..

During the interview, Roberts asked Brown about the 2009 beating incident. She mentioned the restraining order which was recently relaxed to which Brown responded: “I mean, it’s not really a big deal to me now, as far as that situation, and I think today’s the album day, that’s what I’m focused on.”

After his outburst, Brown went on to tweet:

Read more at HuffPo

Read The Whole Story

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New Rihanna Beating Photos Surface Online

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The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Farrakhan also said he had spent time at the Church of Scientology’s celebrity center in Los Angeles and had been impressed with the church’s method of “auditing” — a process he said was comparable to therapy.

He said the church’s founder L. Ron Hubbard had a mission to “civilize white people,” adding that Hubbard “is so exceedingly valuable to every white person on this earth.”

He also criticized the sexually charged performances of popstar Rihanna, saying they were “filthy” and that people who enjoyed such antics were “swine,” a description he also applied to homosexuals and lesbians.

Read The Whole Story

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Check out the tweets and Ciara’s video below:

New Rihanna Beating Photos Surface Online

Chris Brown To Ask For Eased Restraining Order

The pictures released a day after Brown’s restraining order was eased, show Rihanna with a swollen eye and a busted lip. Brown remains on probation until 2014 for the 2009 assault.

Also Read: Oral Sex Is Leading Cause Of Increasing U.S. Cancer Rates

MediaTakeOut.com is hearing reports of  a possible Chris Brown-Rihanna RECONCILIATION. In light of that, we’ve decided to release the images.

See more Rihanna pics in our gallery below:

Read more at MediaTakeOut.com

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Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg has ordered Brown to stay 50 yards away from Rihanna, although the two can be 10 yards apart if they are attending a music industry event.

Rihanna’s attorney Donald Etra said his client supports removing the stay-away provisions in the order. He plans to attend the hearing and lay out Rihanna’s position.

Brown’s attorney Mark Geragos did not immediately respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.

Brown acknowledged beating his then-girlfriend in a rented car after leaving a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Since then, he has been required to perform physical labor in his home state of Virginia. He has completed domestic violence counseling and has received praise from Schnegg for complying with the terms of his sentence.

Brown and Rihanna were nominated for Grammys this year. Brown did not attend the ceremony earlier this month. Rihanna performed at the event.

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I’m a Believer, but I always tell my atheist friends that if they came come up with a more rational explanation for the origin of the universe then I’ll drop God and roll with their side. But they always come up with stuff that still needs a God. Stuff like The Big Bang theory that requires an explosion—which needed a God to cause, started by chemicals—which needed a God to create, that were in motion—which needed a God to facilitate. The very best among the atheists need at least three Gods. I’m cool with just having one.

But every once in a while a more clever atheist will pose a question like this, “If there is a God, then why is there so much suffering in the world? Why was there, like, that earthquake in Haiti?” I’ve always considered this to be a great question and pretty much shrugged when asked, but after Friday night, I think I can finally answer it.

Friday’s ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ telethon had some absolutely brilliant performances. Dave Matthews and Neil Young were outstanding. As were Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris.  Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban made pillars of themselves with their version of Lean On Me. Wyclef Jean closed the show with enough pure musical genius to encapsulate the spirit and resilience of the entire Haitian culture with just five minutes of sound. And of course, that old Satan worshipper himself, You’re Boy, Young, Hov, Jay-Z, took the stage with Rihanna and U2’s Bono and performed a new song just for the occasion that was so true that the devil probably tore up his contract.

And that was it. That’s how I got it. That’s when I understood. I mean, at my lowest sometimes, I slip into debilitating stupors of madness. And in these times, I’m liable to be racist, homophobic and a hater of all things ‘other’. But then to see all these people of all different backgrounds come together—to try to help a nation of Black people at that—it reminded me that we all (well most of us) have a better selves that we should be trying to work towards. And as I remembered listening to a couple of dudes talking about how they wouldn’t text in money to help Haiti because it was “all a scam” and while I’m sure that there are those that think the celebrities that were involved with the benefit were doing it just for “tax purposes”, there are others out there, I know, that probably arrived at the same conclusion that I did. God allows for tragedies like the earthquake in Haiti so that we, who are left alive, can be redeemed.

It’s been a wild ride this year in news, full of amazing ups (like President Obama’s inauguration) and tragic downs (like Michael Jackson’s death). Through it all, NewsOne has been here keeping you up to date on what’s going on.

So what was the news that caught your attention this year? Check out our list below of the Top 10 Most Clicked Stories of 2009 to find out!

10. Man Charged With Throwing Baby Out Car Window

9. Malcolm X’s Grandson Breaks Silence

8. Top 5 FOX News Uncle Toms

7. LisaRaye Testifies About Prime Minister Ex-Husband

6. Joe Jackson Confirms MJ’s Love Child

5. California Mayor Emails White House Watermelon Picture

4. 29-Year-Old Has 21 Kids With 11 Women

3. Seattle Police Beat 15-Year-Old Girl

2. Chris Brown Assaults Rihanna

And the number one most clicked story of the year was ……..

1. Top 10 Racist Rush Limbaugh Quotes - Thanks for the memories, Rush!

Check out more of NewsOne’s Best & Worst of 2009 and the Decade HERE.

From HuffingtonPost.com:

Rihanna poses topless in the January issue of GQ magazine, strategically covering herself while she talks about moving on after her split from Chris Brown.

“It’s relieving,” she told the magazine of talking to the press about her violent encounter with Brown early this year, “because it was built up for so long, and all these thoughts and emotions have been running through my mind for the past eight months. And now it’s like I finally get to let go and move on.”

“I wanted people to move on with me,” she continues, “’cause the last big thing they know about me is That Night. And I don’t want that to be what people define me as.”

Click here to read more.

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Rihanna Speaks About Assault For First Time On “Good Morning America”

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From CNN:

Days after Chris Brown took to his Twitter page accusing stores of “blackballing” his new album, “Graffiti,” the singer’s account was deleted after he left a final message to his fans.

RELATED: Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

“I WANNA THANK MY FANS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT,” said Brown’s final tweet, posted Monday afternoon. “I LOVE YALL. GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Over the weekend, Brown went on a tirade after he visited a Wal-Mart store in Connecticut and didn’t see his album on shelves.

“The didnt even have my album in the back … not on shelves, saw for myself,” he tweeted.

Brown said he spoke to the manager, who had no answers.

RELATED: Outrage As “Good Morning America” Books Chris Brown

“the manager told me that when there are new releases its mandatory to put em on the shelves. BUT NO SIGN OF #GRAFFITI. BS,” he tweeted.

He continued to say that Alicia Keys’ new album was stocked and ready for release, though it wasn’t due out until Tuesday.

Click here to read more.

—————
[12:22 p.m. - 12/14/2009] – Chris Brown Complains On Twitter That Stores Won’t Stock His Album

From MSNBC:

Chris Brown’s first new album since the singer pled guilty to a February assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna was released last week, but some retailers aren’t carrying it.

RELATED: Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

Brown lashed out at those retailers that aren’t stocking “Graffiti” via his Twitter feed, and he’s not just angry at stores, he’s angry at the industry as a whole.

Note: The following tweets are edited only in order to achieve a PG rating. All other spelling/syntax remains the same.

rown began his tirade at 3:04 p.m., Dec 11, “im tired of this s***. major stores r blackballing my cd. not stockin the shelves and lying to costumers. what the f*** do i gotta do…”

RELATED: Outrage As “Good Morning America” Books Chris Brown

He followed that up minutes later with ”WTF… yeah i said it and i aint retracting s***.”

At 3:12 p.m., he stated the obvious: “im not biting my tongue about s*** else… the industry can kiss my ass.”

Click here to read more.

From NYPost.com:

ABC has booked Rihanna-beater Chris Brown for an interview and a performance on “Good Morning America” — right after the network canceled guy-kisser Adam Lambert.

Brown will do a taped tell-all with Robin Roberts, followed by a performance of songs from his new album. But TV insiders say the appearance, slated to air the week after next, has outraged feminists and gay activists who wonder why a convicted girlfriend abuser is more palatable to the network than an openly gay man who broke no laws with his raunchy performance on the “American Music Awards.”

An ABC source said, “The network is giving a mixed message — that it doesn’t trust someone who shocked with an unpredictable show and a gay kiss, but then it is happy to go ahead with Chris Brown, who was convicted of felony assault.”

ABC News has insisted that Lambert’s sexual orientation did not play a role in its decision to pull the plug on his “GMA” appearance this week.

Click here to read more.

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2009 has been a pretty tough year. The honeymoon with President Obama came to a screeching halt, the economy remained in bad shape, and there was an avalanche of celebrity deaths this summer. But it wasn’t all bad news! In the spirit of the holiday, here are 10 news stories we were thankful to read this year:

Judge Finds Government At Fault For Levees Breaking During Katrina -”In a ruling that could leave the government open to billions of dollars in claims from Hurricane Katrina victims, a federal judge said late Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had displayed “gross negligence” in failing to maintain a navigation channel — resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans.”

Why we’re thankful: This ruling will give New Orleans residents an opportunity to get financial help recovering from devastation that might have been avoided with better oversight. That’s justice.

Obama Signs Bill Expanding Hate Crime Laws To Cover Gay People – The measure expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to the must-pass defense policy bill over the stern objections of many Republicans.

Why we’re thankful: Crimes perpetrated out of bias against people due to sexual orientation have been on the rise since last year. Thanks to the passage of this legislation, victims are now afforded protection under the law. While there’s more work yet to be done on the issue of gay rights, this is a start.

“Princess & The Frog” Merchandise In High Demand – “More than 45,000 dolls have sold in less than a month with 17,000 selling last week alone. At one major retailer, The Princess and the Frog bedding has sold nearly triple the amount of regular Disney Princess bedding. At Disney Store locations nationwide and DisneyStore.com, the Princess Tiana role-play dresses are selling above all other Disney Princess characters.”

Why we’re thankful: The more people vote with their wallets and support “The Princess and the Frog,” the more Disney will realize there is an audience out there for characters of color. Tiana may be the first and only Black Disney princess now, but with enough positive reinforcement, she won’t be the last.

Rihanna Speaks To Diane Sawyer About Chris Brown Beating – “Rihanna warned other women facing domestic violence to not let themselves become blinded by love. She also said she regretted going back to Brown, saying it sent the wrong message to her fans.”

Why we’re thankful: Rihanna’s willingness to speak out let young domestic violence victims know that they aren’t alone, and hopefully even gave some the courage to leave their abusers.

Landmark Health Care Bill Narrowly Passes The House – “The Democratic-controlled House has narrowly passed landmark health care reform legislation, handing President Barack Obama a hard won victory on his top domestic priority. Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing the plan that would expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.”

Why we’re thankful: While we won’t know for a while what the Senate will decide on health care, the passage of this bill in the House brought the nation one step closer to caring for the health of all citizens at prices that won’t bankrupt families. We hope health care reform makes it all the way to President Obama’s desk.

“Precious” Breaks Box Office Records In Limited Release – “Oscar hopeful ‘Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire’ was a hit with audiences its opening weekend. The gritty inner-city drama, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, made $1.8 million at 18 theaters in its first weekend of limited release, according to Variety. The film scored an average of $100,000 per theater — reportedly a record.”

Why we’re thankful: Overweight, dark-skinned, poor — people who meet these descriptions don’t often find their stories told in skinny, white-washed, and glamorous Hollywood. “Precious” not only changed the face of the movies, it did so while receiving widespread critical acclaim and box office success, showing that there’s room for a greater diversity of perspectives and actors in the mainstream.

Number Of Black Americans With 4-Year Degrees Reaches New High – Nearly 4.6 million African-Americans hold a four-year college degree, a new high, but a large racial gap in degree attainment still exists and does not appear to be shrinking, according to a report in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Why we’re thankful: Making strides in education can only mean future uplift for our community, and that’s something worth celebrating.

Mattel Introduces Black Barbies With More “Authentic Features” – “Mattel announced Tuesday that it is launching a line of black dolls with more ‘authentic facial characteristics’ than the company’s dolls have featured until now. The dolls, which are part of the ‘So In Style’ line have ‘fuller lips, a wider nose, more distinctive cheek bones and curlier hair,’ according to the world’s biggest toymaker.”

Why we’re thankful: Given the chance to see themselves reflected in their dolls, more little girls will undoubtedly come to see that beauty comes in all shades.

Lou Dobbs Leaves His Nightly Show -”CNN’s Lou Dobbs stepped down from his controversial role as an advocacy anchor at the network at the end of his show Wednesday night, saying he plans to seek a more activist role.”

Why we’re thankful: CNN is the network many look to for straight, unbiased news. Freed from Dobbs’ special brand of xenophobia and general craziness, CNN just became a little more trustworthy.

And finally, the one thing we’re as thankful for today as we were last year …

The president is (still) Black.

Happy Thanksgiving from NewsOne!

When I heard that Chris Brown hit his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, I was concerned and surprised.  I also found myself irritated by the fact that many women, along with my teenage daughters, were quick to forgive Chris for his actions, primarily because they think he has a great voice and a cute face.  I had little sympathy for Chris Brown, and doing something like that to one of my girls would’ve had him singing a cappella for the rest of his life.

RELATED: Rihanna: Chris Brown “Had No Soul In His Eyes”

But that’s where I have to get off the Chris Brown bashing bus.  In spite of my frustration with Chris’ behavior, I cannot endorse the media’s decision to turn his relationship with Rihanna into a one-sided slugfest, committed by yet another violent black man whose rage consistently overrides his intellect.  I also cannot endorse Rihanna’s decision to bring ABC News into her relationship, portraying herself as the completely innocent victim who was terrorized by the big, scary black man.  Yes, she is the victim, but we all know that love is not that simple.

Let’s be clear: No man should ever put his hands on a woman in a violent way.  We all agree on that.   Not only is it morally wrong, but it’s an easy way for a man to find himself in jail (especially if he’s black).  We should also agree that no woman should put her hands on any man.  The second point might be subject to disagreement, but the truth is that you shouldn’t hit someone if you don’t expect to get hit back.  While that person might end up being punished by the police, you might end up in the morgue.  We can also agree that the disproportionate amount of force that a man is capable of inflicting is a legitimate reason that the man is more to blame than the woman, even if both parties are involved in a physical altercation.

RELATED: Rihanna Says Working On Album Helped Her Recovery

But the problem with Rihanna’s appearance on ABC News is that there is no productive reason for any of us to hear the details of a relationship between two 19-year olds.  I’m sorry, but most relationships at that age are fundamentally stupid, and hearing one side of the situation is almost always going to guarantee that you’re not going to get the whole truth.  If only I was allowed to go onto national TV at the age of 19 to tell the world about my terrible college girlfriend who slapped me repeatedly just to get my attention.  Yes, I thought she was a horrible person, but the truth is that we were both pretty ridiculous in our behavior.  Of course, Rihanna’s situation is different, since she was the victim of serious physical abuse, but the truth is that she can focus on fighting against domestic violence without using ABC News as a platform to get everyone to hate Chris Brown as much as she does.  Yeah, there was the whole “I still love him and wish him well” speech, but we all know that you can massage someone with your right hand and stab them with your left.

Secondly, given that there was no logical reason for Rihanna to turn ABC News into an episode of “Everybody Hates Chris,” one can only conclude that her interview was a publicity stunt.  I think that Rihanna’s message could be just as effective if she were to say, “I have been physically abused by a man.  I believe that any woman involved in domestic violence should leave the relationship.”  That would be enough.  We don’t need the he-say, she-say, with all the juicy details in-between.   The alleged goal of the conversation is to teach young women like my daughters to stay away from violent men and to teach couples to love each other more effectively.  The objective was not to make this into a national soap opera.

Finally, let’s not forget this important point:  Chris Brown was 19-years old when the incident took place.  Chris is not R. Kelly, a man who is probably too old to be redeemed or even trusted.  Chris likely learned some valuable lessons from this experience, as young love teaches lessons to us all.  The idea that Oprah Winfrey and others would abandon and condemn Chris rather than counsel and scold him implies that their hostility toward Brown was likely a projection of their own painful experiences with men.  Let’s be clear: Chris deserves to have his butt kicked over this one.  But he is too young to be condemned as some kind of irreversible monster.  Love between teenagers can be both passionate and explosive; damn near anything can happen.  Don’t pretend like you don’t know this yourself.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  He is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Black American Money.”  For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.

NEW YORK — Rihanna on Friday described the horror she felt as her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown was biting and punching her during a violent argument in February, saying she saw “no soul in his eyes.”

“There was no person when I looked at him,” the 21-year-old singer recalled during portions of an interview with Diane Sawyer airing on ABC’s “20/20″ and, earlier, “Good Morning America.” ”He had no soul in his eyes. Just blank.”

Brown was arrested Feb. 8, hours after he was accused of beating Rihanna after the two argued over another woman. The singer later pleaded guilty to felony assault.

RELATED: Rihanna Speaks About Assault For First Time On Good Morning America

In the interview, Rihanna, who is no longer with Brown, described him as “definitely my first big love.” She said their relationship was intense.

“The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other — equally as dangerous,” she said. “It was a bit of an obsession almost.”

The attack occurred in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood as Brown drove a rented sports car. She said it was triggered when she saw a text message on his phone from another woman and confronted him about it. She said he lied about it and “I wouldn’t drop it.”

A search warrant affidavit filed in the case stated that Brown hit, choked and bit Rihanna and tried at one point to push her from the car.

“It was ugly,” she said.

During the beating, the singer said she had no idea how it would end: “That’s all I kept thinking the whole time, ‘When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop?’”

RELATED: Rihanna Says Working On Album Helped Her Recovery

Brown was sentenced to five years’ probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling after he pleaded guilty to felony assault.

Rihanna said that, even after her physical wounds had healed, she felt embarrassment and shame.

“You start thinking, ‘What could I possibly have said to make him hit me and do this?’ … I didn’t talk about it to anyone. To no one. Not my friends, not my family. I didn’t want people looking at me and feeling sorry for me, like, ‘There goes the victim,’” she said.

Rihanna warned other women facing domestic violence to not let themselves become blinded by love. She also said she regretted going back to Brown, saying it sent the wrong message to her fans.

Brown, 20, has apologized to fans and has said he has repeatedly apologized to Rihanna for the attack.

Despite the beating, Rihanna said she still cares about Brown.

“I don’t hate him at all,” she said. “I actually love and care about him and I’m concerned about him doing well. I want him to do well — have a great career, have a great life, and grow up. Just take this as something that you had to go through to grow up and learn.”

Rihanna’s interview coincides with the debut of her new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her upcoming album, “Rated R.”

From MSNBC:

Rihanna has sold more than 12 million albums, and has had four No. 1 songs, but now her fame revolves mostly around one fight.

The singer hopes that will change on Nov. 16, when her first live performance since her Feb. 8 assault is streamed worldwide by Nokia mobile music. And when her album “Rated R” drops a week later, she believes fans will have insight into what transpired between her and ex-boyfriend Chris Brown in the wee hours of that morning.

“I can tell you that making this album was my recovery. It’s the way I vented and expressed myself,” a confident Rihanna said in our interview. “The minute I decided to leave the house again, I called up (Roc Nation A&R executive) Jay Brown and said ‘I want to do music, I want to go back in the studio,’ and we just did that. We started collecting songs and sounds and putting producers together, figuring out who we want to work with to develop new sounds.”

Click here to read more.

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LOS ANGELES — The first interview with Rihanna about Chris Brown’s assault on her is airing this week on ABC.

The network says the pop star’s one-on-one with Diane Sawyer will air Thursday and Friday on “Good Morning America” and Friday evening on the news magazine “20/20.”

Brown’s attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna occurred in February. He was sentenced in August to five years’ probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling after he pleaded guilty to felony assault.

Rihanna’s ABC interview coincides with the debut of her new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her upcoming album, “Rated R.” It’s her first CD since 2007′s multiplatinum “Good Girl Gone Bad.”

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From The Root:

When my daughter and I removed the Chris Brown posters from her bedroom wall, it had the feel of a ritual. We moved in silence and with a sense of mourning, carefully folding the posters like the flag for a fallen soldier—before placing them in the trash.

It was a week after the allegations surfaced. And then there was the photo showing a bruised, battered and bloody Rihanna. My teenage daughter was a devoted fan of Brown, and I’d been drawn in, too. The guy has talent coming out of his ears. He seemed charming. And surprisingly normal. After the news of his violent attack on Rihanna surfaced, my daughter was confused and angry and finally wept in frustration.

RELATED: Black Women Disproportionately Affected By Domestic Violence

“Now I’m really gonna kill you!” These are the words Brown threatened Rihanna with. The use of his fists shattered the façade he had so carefully crafted of the sweet Boy Next Door. It’s an image too many young girls still cling to, even as Brown has revealed himself to be a dangerously troubled young man. He was seen this summer, for example, wearing a $300K chain that spelled out “Ooops!”

“What did she say to make him hit her?”

“Well, I heard she hit him first.”

These were the words of young black girls on the radio and in newspaper interviews. They defended Brown and blamed Rihanna.

And so it is too often with domestic violence. Women blame the woman. Men blame the woman. Maybe the woman even blames herself. Others like P. Diddy, who famously got called out by talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres for offering his Florida home as a post-assault rendezvous for the Brown and Rihanna, use the old dodge, “nobody really knows what happened.” Yes, we do. We know that a 6’1” man beat, choked, bit, punched and threatened a woman. That he’d done it before. That he left her bloody on the side of the road. And we know that it’s wrong. There is nothing that she could have said that would justify what Brown did to her.

RELATED: Chris Brown Criticizes Oprah For Doing Show On Domestic Violence

But what if she hit him? Jimi Izrael, one of The Root’s bloggers asked, “when is Rihanna gonna be prosecuted for hitting Brown?” Even if she slapped him first, Brown’s conduct was disproportionate and brutal. Trying to find a sense of gender symmetry to domestic violence is the equivalent of white people pointing out incidents of black bigotry to refute the reality of systematic and institutional white supremacy. Of course, a woman should never hit a man. And of course, there are women who commit domestic violence against men. They should be prosecuted and receive counseling, just as male batterers should. But the vast and overwhelming instances of domestic violence are still just what we imagine: Men and boys physically abusing their girlfriends and wives. (Here in Baltimore, where I live, we’re starting to hear about a disturbing new trend: Sons beating their mothers.) Eighty-five percent of domestic violence victims nationwide are women. The fact that women can be perpetrators and men their victims doesn’t change this reality.

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Chris Brown has started his community service and RadarOnline.com got the exclusive photos to prove it.

The singer, dressed in an orange vest and red baseball cap, appears to be pulling weeds on a roadside.

The R&B singer tweeted Wednesday morning ‘on my way to community service…’

Chris was sentenced to 60-months felony probation and ordered by a judge to attend a 52-week domestic violence program and perform 56-weeks of community service following his February assault on then girlfriend Rihanna.

Click here to read more.

[SOURCE: Radar Online]

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From CNN:

Two LAPD officers have been placed on paid administrative leave in the ongoing police investigation into who leaked Rihanna’s injury photo.

Officer Rebecca Reyes, a nine-year employee of the department, is under investigation for both criminal and administrative issues, her lawyer Ira Salzman confirms to PEOPLE.

Salzman adds that search warrants were executed on Reyes’s home in late June, and her computer and cell phone records have been seized.

“But my client did not sell any photos for profit,” Salzman says. “She did not commit any criminal act.”

A second officer, Blanca Lopez, a rookie employee who is a former housemate of Reyes’s, is also on paid administrative leave in connection with the investigation.

“My client is flabbergasted, having been dragged into the investigation,” says her attorney Robert Rico. “She never saw the photograph of Rihanna until it came out on TV.”

Both attorneys say their clients are officers of good standing with the department.

Click here to read more.

From Parade Magazine:

In a new interview with People magazine, Chris Brown was asked how he felt about the fact that Oprah did a show on abuse, inspired by Rihanna. The show, which ran in March was “dedicated to all the Rihannas of the world.”

“I commend Oprah on being like, ‘This is a problem,’ but it was a slap in my face. I did a lot of stuff for her, like going to Africa and performing for her school. She could have been more helpful, like, ‘OK, I’m going to help both of these people out,” Brown said.

Click here to read more.

LOS ANGELES – Chris Brown says he doesn’t remember savagely beating Rihanna and claims he still loves his former girlfriend.

In his first public interviews on the subject, the R&B singer told People magazine and CNN’s Larry King that his feelings haven’t changed for Rihanna since the February beating that left her bloody and bruised.

“I never fell out of love with her,” Brown told People. “That just wouldn’t go away.”

Brown told King in an interview scheduled to air on Wednesday night that he is still in shock about his actions. Brown’s mother, Joyce Hawkins, accompanied her son during both interviews.

“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t believe that that actually happened,” Brown told King.

Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in June and last week was sentenced to five years of probation, a year of domestic violence counseling and six months of community labor. He will serve his sentence in his home state of Virginia.

A judge also ordered Brown, 20, and Rihanna, 21, to stay away from each other.

A police affidavit and probation report detail the beating, which included Brown hitting, biting and choking Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. The attack occurred in a car after the couple attended a pre-Grammy Awards party.

Brown’s interview with People will be published in an issue released on Friday. He told the magazine he called his mother, who was a domestic violence victim, the night of the attack.

“I was distraught. I went to my mom on the same night and told (her) what happened and broke down.”

Brown released a video statement last month in which he apologized to fans and said he had repeatedly apologized to Rihanna for the attack.

Watch a preview of Chris Brown’s interview with Larry King:

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Chris Brown Sentenced To 5 Years Felony Probation

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From CNN:

LOS ANGELES, California — Pop singer Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years probation and to spend more than 1,400 hours in “labor-oriented service” for assaulting his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna.

Also Tuesday, CNN obtained a probation report for Brown that says the pair were involved in at least two other domestic violence incidents before the February attack for which Brown was sentenced.

The probation report, which CNN obtained after Brown’s sentencing, was used to reach his plea agreement.

Brown, 20, was arrested after an early morning argument inside a rented Lamborghini on a Hollywood street on February 8.

Police investigating the February 8 attack “learned of two earlier incidents related to domestic violence that went unreported,” the probation report said.

“The first incident occurred in Europe about three months before the present offense,” the report said. “The victim [Rihanna] and the defendant [Brown] were involved in a verbal dispute and the victim [Rihanna] slapped the defendant [Brown]. He responded by shoving her into a wall.”

Another incident happened in January, three weeks before the Hollywood incident, when Brown and Rihanna were visiting her home country of Barbados, the report said.

“The defendant [Brown] and the victim [Rihanna] were visiting Barbados and were driving a Range Rover loaned to them by a local dealership,” the investigator wrote. “They had an argument inside the car. The defendant [Brown] exited and broke the front driver and passenger side windows of the car.”

Click here to read more.

LOS ANGELES – Singer Chris Brown was sentenced Tuesday to five years of felony probation and 180 days of community labor for the beating of his ex-girlfriend, pop star Rihanna.

Brown must report to probation within 72 hours. The community labor, to be performed in Brown’s home state of Virginia, is to include tasks such as graffiti removal and trash pick up.

Brown must also complete a 52-week domestic violence program and a protective order was issued directing Brown to stay away from Rihanna.

The sentencing hearing in downtown Los Angeles was moved up two days at the request of Brown’s attorney, Mark Geragos. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.

His sentencing earlier this month was delayed after a judge learned that authorities in Virginia, where Brown wants to serve probation, hadn’t yet agreed to a probation plan.

Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna in June. He was arrested after the pair fought hours before February’s Grammys.

Geragos, said Tuesday that he did not expect there to be any more problems with the sentencing.

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