He”s kidding, right? That was my first thought when I saw Chris Brown”s Instagram from yesterday.
In case you missed it, Brown, that paragon of all this is virtuous in this world, posted a painting of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross yesterday alongside the words, “Painting the way I feel today. Focus on what matters.”
Doesn”t he mean “focus on what martyrs” because we”ve never seen an artist with such a persecution complex and a complete inability to grasp the role he has played in his own ongoing conflicts.
Apparently, he”s feeling a little misunderstood due to his latest dust-up. Yeah, the one where he and Frank Ocean got into a tiff over a parking spot at Westlake Recording Studios on Sunday in Los Angeles. While the facts are blurry, it appears that push came to shove and Brown left the scene before police could question him.
Instead of painting or comparing himself to Jesus, maybe Brown needs to climb down off that cross and go talk to the Los Angeles County sheriff”s department, who wants to question him about the incident. (Sheriff department spokesman Steve Whitmore says that Ocean wants to press charges and told The Los Angeles Times that Brown is “a named suspect in a battery report”).
Or maybe, just maybe, he needs to have a long time out to figure out why the public just won”t give him a break and realize he”s not such a bad guy. C”mon, people! It”s been four years since he tried to meld Rihanna”s head with a car door and she”s not only forgiven him, they”re seemingly off in their own little twisted loveland again and they tweet and Instagram a near-constant stream of selfies together to prove it.
After every incident-whether it”s throwing a chair after a “Good Morning America” interview doesn”t go the way he”d planned (in that Robin Roberts deigned to ask other than fluff questions) or he and Drake are in a fight in a club or he makes gay slurs he later has to apologize for-the now inevitable and predictable pattern follows. Somehow, Brown makes himself out to be the victim: He”s misunderstood, he didn”t throw the first punch, he was insulted, he”s already apologized, he”s a target because he”s famous, he”s young… what more do we want from him?
What we want from him is some sign that for more than five minutes he can act like an adult. Yes, being a pop star keeps one in perpetual adolescence…and keeps one surrounded by people on the payroll whose main, if not only, job is to constantly reassure the artist the he is right, everyone else is wrong and is just jealous.
If Brown so badly wants to compare himself to Christ, maybe he should think about turning the other cheek.