So it turns out, you can’t really make a video about killing a man for abusing you without a bunch of persnickety a-holes jumping down your throat about it. Who knew? Anyway, after dropping a couple days ago, Rihanna‘s music video for Man Down is taking some heat from the Parents Television Council, I’m assuming because it isn’t about a puppy and a kitty playing patty-cake while talking about how they both successfully prayed the gay away because them queers just ain’t right.
“Man Down is an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song. In my 30 years of viewing BET, I have never witnessed such a cold, calculated execution of murder in primetime. Viacom’s standards and practices department has reached another new low,” Porter said in the statement. “If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass and BET should know better. The video is far from broadcast worthy.”
Man, I especially like the part where they compare her to the ex-boyfriend that beat her face into a card door, then left her on the streets. Anyway, in turn Rihanna stood up for her video, because fuck those guys.
“I’m a 23 year old rockstar with NO KIDS! What’s up with everybody wantin me to be a parent? I’m just a girl, I can only be your/our voice!” she wrote early Thursday afternoon. “Cuz we all know how difficult/embarrassing it is to communicate touchy subject matters to anyone especially our parents!… And this is why!Cuz we turn the other cheek! U can’t hide your kids from society,or they’ll never learn how to adapt!This is the REAL WORLD!… The music industry isn’t exactly Parents R Us! We have the freedom to make art, LET US! Its your job to make sure they dont turn out like US” SOURCE
A couple things here: First, Rihanna doesn’t just up and murder a man in the video. It’s pretty heavily implied that the guy raped her and while this doesn’t excuse violence, at least it’s an explanation. And when you consider how few rapes are even reported, and of those that are, how many are rectified judicially, I’d be a little madder over that than a music video where a rapist gets shot by one of his victims. Second, if Chris Brown, a man who physically abused his girlfriend, made a video where he shot a woman, yes, it would be wildly different than a video where an abuse victim shoots her abuser. Once again: I’m not trying to justify murder and violence, because the video is not real. It’s art. You don’t get to throw it in the fire just because you don’t understand it.