Is Chris Brown's Career Over?

No one seems to be broaching this subject, but it's entirely possible.

Dude beat up Rihanna. And by all indications, it was particularly horrific. We’ve all heard all the gruesome details. Among other things, he threatened to kill her, split her lip, and choked her unconscious.

So where will Brown go from here?

It seems the public is fairly apt to forgive all types of celebrity misbehavior these days. Why in just past year or so, we’ve been momentarily appalled by (and then quickly re-embraced) stars caught in scandals involving sex tapes (Kim Kardashian), gambling (Charles Barkley), expletive-filled tirades aimed at their children (Alec Baldwin), racism (Don Imus), husband stealing (Denise Richards), perjury (Lil’ Lim), assault and battery (Naomi Campbell), drunk driving (Heather Locklear), anger issues (Christian Bale), plus plain old fashioned drug abuse and marital cheating (too many to list.)

But this thing with Brown seems a little different. Those who batter and abuse women are judged very harshly by the public. As the D.A.'s office builds its case against Brown, each day it seems more and more details are leaked, the alleged severity of Rihanna's beating gets worse, and this entire episode gets uglier and uglier. Some evidence even suggests that this wasn’t an isolated incident and that Brown had a history of abusing his girlfriend.

But beating up Rihanna in particular, the darling of the R&B/hip-hop world, could prove to be career-suicide for Brown. With Rihanna’s popularity, her beauty and her image being what they are, if this was 1960, this would be like someone beating up Doris Day.

The two incidents this draws comparison to are when Sinead O’Connor tore up the picture of the pope on Saturday Night Live, and Mel Gibson’s sexist, anti-semitic rage after he was stopped for drunk driving. 

O’Connor was massacred by the press and the Catholic community especially, and her career was never the same. The jury is still out on Gibson, but Brown would do well to take a page from Gibson's book by doing the following:

1. Issuing a statement accepting responsibility for what he’s done and face up to any punishment levied against him. And not that weak-ass apology he made yesterday where he stated he was, “sorry and saddened over what transpired.” No, Brown needs to get specific, get sincere, and get truly repentant.


2. Admitting he has a serious problem and enter treatment. Real, professional treatment, not “counseling from his family and his pastor.”


3. Completely disappearing from public view -- for at least a good year and a half. Dropping out of the public eye (a la Mel Gibson) will go a long way towards stemming the tide of public outrage that’s engulfing Brown right now.

And even if he does all this, Brown will almost certainly have to face the judgment of the music community, which might not be as forgiving as the general public. Consider this: 

Rihanna, who is just turning 21, is like a little sister to many in the R&B/hip-hop realm. Chris Brown and her were poised to take their places as the crown prince and princess of that particular kingdom. After what’s happened, many of hip-hop’s “elders” (including Kanye' West, Timbaland, and others Rihanna’s worked with) may feel protective of her and collectively, they could effectively black-ball Brown and squash any hopes he might have for a comeback. 

Kanye' (who toured with Rihanna) has already referred to her as his “baby sis” and stated that he would do anything and everything for her. And Jay Z, who was largely responsible for Rihanna’s breakout record, "Umbrella", is rumored to be furious with Brown. 

Jay Z has been one of hip-hop’s biggest names for a decade and no doubt wields considerable influence in the industry. Could Jay Z (together with Kanye' and others) use their power to get Brown “blacklisted” in the hip-hop world? 

Brown needs to hope that no further revelations come out about this, and that he can somehow avoid jail time -- two things that would make an already nearly unfixable situation even worse. Brown has already lost endorsement deals, had performance offers rescinded, and lost a ton of fans. And because Brown’s smoother, sexier singing style appeals more to women, he’s bound to lose a good deal of this, a large portion of his following.

Anyone else remember another musical couple, Ike and Tina Turner, and the similar scenario they went through years ago? Ike used to beat on Tina routinely. How’d that turn out? 

Tina went on to multi-platinum albums, multi-Grammy wins, and multi-millions. Ike died in 2007, his contribution to music (which was not insignificant) largely forgotten and having never shed his reputation as a wife-beater. 

Though he’s just 19, with a lot of time to reshape public opinion, if Chris Brown doesn’t play his cards right, he may be facing a similar fate.