We remember when Chris Brown was in legal trouble for hitting his then-girlfriend Rhianna and putting her in the hospital. On April 14, 2023 viewers of the John Campea show were once again reminded of this situation. For years whenever Chris Brown has been brought up by John it was always in the discussion of domestic violence whenever a celebrity was involved. It came up with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, it came up recently with Johnathan Majors and it really flared up again when Ezra Miller was in the news repeatedly. The issue that I had whenever Chris Brown was brought up was not that I needed to defend Chris Brown. I've said repeatedly "Fuck That Dude". I don't know or owe him anything. The issue, I'll always have is the constant need to focus on one topic, in this case, the young black singer, as the go-to for the example of all domestic violence.
It's the same way I feel about mecharandom42 using Brie Larson as a target. Why the need to bring up Chris Brown over and over? Well, the answer got a little clearer again when John put a little more detail into the story. According to John, when Brown was in the news, he was also in a feature film. AMC Movie Talk, where John worked at the time need him to discuss the movie and John refused to promote or talk about it because of the case. That's fine. Fast forward a few years later when Depp and Miller were in the news, the same stance against what they did but because we're talking about bonified movie stars the discussion would steer towards how their careers could be salvaged or in Miller's case, hope they get better. Even the defense of his mental health was mentioned. Thankfully Actor Kris Carr would be the one voice who would remind people that mental health is not an overall excuse because it stigmatizes people with mental health issues, people who suffer from said issues who do not come anywhere near what Ezra Miller did and was not confronted for. This is the exact way that people would even defend Chris Brown, saying that his age was a factor and that 19 boys are still developing. This is true but there are millions of 19 adults who are developing mentally not beating women.
The problem that I had was with the sentiment that was being given to some people like Miller who got the benefit of "I hope they get help" after a rant of "They should not play the Flash again" in comparison to Chris Brown where it was "Fuck that guy cause I have sisters". I'm paraphrasing. We have a history in this country of demonizing black men in the media and having softer approaches or straight-up looking the other way when white people or white-passing people of fame do similar bad actions or crimes. I personally never understood the need to constantly go back to Chris Brown, I mean why not R. Kelly? Why not mention Actor Ricardo Medina Jr. who plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2015?
In my opinion, what Miller was accused of was worse because it was overlooked for so long without any repercussions and they did it to multiple people. On TJCS last Friday, It dawned on me that the argument that he got into with AMC execs was a pivotal moment in his career moving forward, which lead him to Collider and eventually on his own, so the Chris Brown case is a key factor in his life. Not because of what Brown did to Rhianna per se but for what the tension the matter brought to him at his workspace. This now makes more sense to me, and to be fair to John he hasn't done it to any other black actor.
That being said, it still is true that the constant need to rehash it over again makes people in the black community feel like this is just another white outlet that has an "Angry Black Man" story. Chris Brown doesn't speak for all domestic violence. Ezra Miller doesn't speak for all mental health cases. When covering one versus the other there is more venom in your delivery, it will make black people feel a type of way. There are multiple black men who have reached out to me to discuss this. One who says exactly what I've said that his need to constantly go back to Brown made him unsubscribe to Johns' channel. You can find that video link here. Another said, they brought it up to John in his comments and they were met with being silenced and blocked from commenting ever again.
I do not the full stories of these examples from those two people who reached out to me, I'll only go by how I see it and feel. I like John's show, I'm still a regular. I still hope to meet him someday. That may never happen. John may not be interested in ever meeting with me and/or I may never get the chance if he did. What I do know, is he hasn't crossed a line yet or shown a pattern of demonizing black people. Just Chris Brown. In my opinion I think it would benefit if he ended it because he disagrees with the notion that he's doing out because of the Brown race, it doesn't change the optics and how it makes black men feel. If he doesn't care about that, that's one thing, most people who have good intentions won't listen to things like "optics". So, we'll just see.