The US singer, notorious for his alleged assaults and legal controversies, is in the midst of a worldwide stadium tour. His immunity to total career failure is representative of a culture far too tolerant of male violence.
Pictured: Chris Brown.Subscribe to our newsletter here.
A recent TikTok by Scottish newspaper The National interviewed fans of Chris Brown, who were queuing for his Glasgow concert at Hampden Park. In the video, fans are asked a set of questions: whether they’re aware of his felony conviction, the restraining order he has against him, or the numerous accusations of rapes and sexual assaults he has to his name. Some say that they knew of Brown’s controversies; others look nonplussed and simply respond ‘no.’
The host then asks another, more pertinent question: “How does it make you all feel?” The answers given range from indifferent dismissal of said controversies – “I mind my own business… I like his music, that’s why I’m here,” and similar sentiments – to outright denial. One fan even begins to make false claims that the sexual assault allegations have been “withdrawn.” They have not. A rape lawsuit was dismissed in 2022, but the accusations linger.
Crucially though, none of the fans interviewed balk at the notion that Brown might be a deeply immoral person, nor that their money from the tickets they’ve purchased could further fund such behaviour.
Chris Brown’s immense success – a stadium tour, a slew of chart hits, and a total of twenty-four Grammy nominations – despite his controversies is obviously troubling. Rightfully, Brown’s continued popularity has been met with fierce backlash: the comments section of the aforementioned TikTok is ablaze with criticism, condemning the interviewees as “embarrassing” or copy-pasting timelines of Brown’s alleged abuses. The earliest of these is his brutal attack on pop singer Rihanna in 2009; the most recent is in 2024, just last year, involving an alleged assault on his crew. That Brown has been allowed to embark on this tour at all is symptomatic of a culture that forgives men far too easily.
There’s an obvious comparison to be made – Donald Trump is both US President and a convicted criminal – yet there are other, less overt examples of the cultural immunity certain male celebrities seem to have. Brad Pitt, who was once accused of abuse by ex-wife Angelina Jolie, recently opened his F1 film to healthy box office receipts. Comedian Louis C.K., a few years after a New York Times article that exposed his sexual misconduct, won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. Johnny Depp’s legal battle with Amber Heard found both parties at fault, but in the court of public opinion, Depp emerged victorious.
Though these men, like Brown, haven’t wholly been absolved of responsibility – a small but pertinent trail of backlash still follows them – the fact that they’re allowed to continue their careers in the first place is a sign of failure. There’s a ‘Teflon effect’ whereby these men are seemingly untouchable in the long run, their controversies swept under the rug.
It’s also worth considering the double standard at play here. Sabrina Carpenter faces heavy resistance for a misguided but ultimately harmless album cover; Chappell Roan makes her boundaries clear and she’s branded a bitter diva; Taylor Swift’s use of her private jet is more fiercely criticised than the dozens of men who use it more than her. The allegations against Brown or Pitt are far more unnerving, yet the furore is comparatively minute.
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You can simply scroll past — but please don’t overlook the importance of an independent queer press.
You can simply scroll past—but please don't overlook the importance of an independent queer press.
Time is now or never.
Queer voices disappear without independent journalism to amplify them.
We document what others won't touch.
We hold power to account when it threatens our communities.
This work exists only because you choose to fund it directly.
Donate over €25/month and receive our limited-edition tote bag — a badge of resistance, a statement that you stand for fearless journalism.
We are grateful!
Can't donate? Sharing our work helps more than you think
Not every man in entertainment benefits from the Teflon effect. The careers of film directors Woody Allen and Roman Polanski effectively ended after their respective allegations of misconduct. But other men do, which is enough to constitute a diagnosis of a failure in accountability.
Brown’s ability to tour thus exposes a grim culture of selective outrage, a culture where our disdain of male immorality is tempered by how much we liked them in the first place. (Michael Jackson’s legacy, for instance, is only faintly tarnished by allegations of child abuse, simply because he’s become too engrained in our cultural memory for us to disown him entirely.) It’s not that we don’t believe that Brown assaulted Rihanna; it’s that we simply don’t seem to care enough.
In another video outside Hampden Park, this time for STV News, one fan laughs off Brown’s controversies, excusing them as part of a “bad boy reputation.” It’s exactly this normalisation – the conflation of violence with masculinity – that allows Brown to continue to get away with it. His fans continue to defend him; “Nobody has the perfect relationship behind closed doors,” one says in the video, which seems to suggest a disconnect between Brown’s public and private lives. Yet when ticket sales directly fund his lifestyle, how wide is that disconnect? To what extent can we separate the art from the artist, when our engagement with the art is inherently harmful? All questions that his fans might have considered, before entering the stadium and forgetting that those questions ever mattered.
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