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So, we all know that R&B veteran Chris Brown is a controversial figure who can’t seem to stay out of headlines due to his behavior and alleged penchant for violence and angry outbursts, but we’re not really going to call him antisemitic because he was caught on video at a nightclub vibing to a Kanye song with a problematic lyric, are we?
Oh, that’s exactly what we’re doing? Well, OK then.
According to HuffPost, Brown had to shut down allegations that he is antisemitic after social media got ahold of a video of him laughing and bobbing his head to Kanye West’s new song, “Vultures,” while he was with Ye at a nightclub in Dubai.
Now Brown was on video with Ye, who is demonstrably antisemitic. And Ye’s song does include the lyric: “How I’m antisemitic? I just f-cked a Jewish b-tch,” which is the antisemitic equivalent of demonstrably racist white people claiming they couldn’t be racist because they’ve had relations with a Black person before (a thing slave masters could also say). Still, Brown didn’t write or rap the lyrics, and it’s not like he should be expected to just stand there stiff as a log while Ye and everyone else around him was in party mode.
That being said, his initial response to the backlash was, well, very Chris Brown—which is to say it was the exact wrong response if the “Go Crazy” singer was looking to shed his aforementioned reputation for anger and violence.
“Let me make this perfectly clear before y’all try to use me as a pawn,” Brown wrote in a post he later deleted, according to HuffPost. “Ima Piru, I aint Muslim or Jewish so don’t start no shit wont be no sh-t!!! I’m trying to be peaceful but please do not wake up the demon in me. Go on about your f—king day.”
Brown reportedly removed any reference to his association with Piru, a subset of the Blood gang, then he posted the response he probably should have posted in the first place.
“IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM AM I ANTISEMETIC!!!” he wrote. “I’M PRO LIFE AND I MAKE MUSIC FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!!!!”
It’s unclear what Brown’s stance on abortion rights had to do with anything, assuming he understands that’s what “pro-life” indicates, but making it clear that being seen on video rapping lyrics to a song in a nightclub while in the company of the artist who wrote the lyrics doesn’t define him as someone who bears contempt for Jewish people was the practical move—as opposed to leveling veiled threats of gang violence at detractors.
So, what do y’all think? Were people overreacting, or did Brown need to answer for the video? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Chris Brown Responds To ‘Antisemitic’ Claims After Video Shows Him Partying To New Kanye West Song was originally published on cassiuslife.com
