Chris Brown Explains His Career Away on Larry King Live

Larry King, Chris Brown (and Brown's mother)

Chris Brown is a man-child — not quite a man by any definition of the word (nor barely physically as he still has the plumpish rounded features of a teenager and, as a part of his “look”, dresses like the school nerd) but he’s not quite a child either. He is cought between two world fighting to be free from one while struggling even harder to be recognized in the other. And we are right there with him — unsure of where to place him in light of his recent physical abuse charges against former girlfriend and pop star Rihanna.

He is 20 years old and clearly stunned by the deep and potentially long-lasting reaction and repercussions of his actions that fateful night that may have sealed the deal on his career.

Brown (along with his mother, Joyce Hawkins, herself a life-long victim of domestic violence) visited Larry King Live and gave a tell-all interview about the night he beat Rihanna and how he has processed the event in his mind ever since. According to snippets from the interview covered in a CNN writeup, he doesn’t “remember” much at all from that night.

It is very difficult to know where to place Chris Brown in the context of society post-Rihanna. He is (many would agree) a gifted entertainer. He is now fighting for his life to do the very thing he is gifted at (and has made millions doing) for years. But, if the previews of this interview are any indication (along with the hatred of Brown expressed in large numbers on Comment boards and in social media), he has a long hard road ahead of him and his career may, in fact, never fully recover.

Not only has Chris Brown done himself in, but technology has played a hand in bringing down criminal actions that, not long ago, would’ve been forgiven and forgot about by fans (and even enemies).

First, there is the awful picture shown, literally, around the world of badly beaten Rihanna. It was shocking (even to those of us who have lived and seen some disturbing things). To know her has a beautiful young woman and to see her bloodied, frightened and (by police report accounts) left in the road, is hard to comprehend. He instantly became a monster. The photo instantly became celebrity photo history — now legendary. Anyone who does this, we reasoned, doesn’t deserve a second chance.

Then there was the initial denial and his handling of the legal matter — more befitting a boy than a man (even though he was being led by a legal team that seemed not to understand how “coming clean” as soon as possible was the only way to receive mercy from the courts and fans). Finally, on June 22, he pleaded guilty to felony assault. And (in a deal he struck with prosecutors that keeps him out of the poker) he was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community labor and order to stay 20-feet away from Rihanna.

And then there was the apology video that came almost five months after the attack that he uploaded on YouTube and was quickly distributed throughout the web and analyzed mercilessly. Sitting in front of a camera at what appears to be an office (most likely his attorney’s), Brown seemingly recites by memory the worst apology ever (Ike Turner had better apologies for Tina Turner). It did not go over well. The social media crowd ripped into him calling him an “actor”, a liar and beyond repair. His language (where he refused to even mention Rihanna by name and referred to the beating he leveled on her as “the incident”) is very reminiscent of physical abusers who distance themselves from their own crime and give “just enough” of an apology to be forgiven (until they beat the woman again).

Realizing his personal apology was not received well, he decided to hit the talk show circuit by visiting Larry King Live (@kingsthings) to, once again, tell his side of the story. The problem with his interview here is the problem he has had all along. He continues to distance himself from his crime by saying to King that he does not “remember” the events of that night. Does anyone in their right minds believe such a ridiculous claim? The one who should be shell-shocked and void of any memory of that night’s trauma should be the victim, Rihanna, who was beaten senseless. She remembers. She will most likely never forget.

With his mother looking on in the background (crying into a tissue — most likely to give the appearance of a concerned parent but also realizing this is her son’s last stance), Brown explains his thoughts about that night:

“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t — I can’t believe that — that actually happened… I just need to prove to people I can be a role model. That’s not who I am as a person, and that’s not who I promise I want to be.”

The problem is, that is who Chris Brown is until he gets long-term help (it’s no secret that he watched his mother be abused repeatedly and was himself physically abused by his stepfather as a young boy). His lack of understanding of the depth of this problem and his continued denial of it (framing the incident in the context of it being “something that just happened”) is what is disturbing and makes us not trust him. We adults understand that nothing good can come of that mentality and, no, you can’t pray this problem away with your pastor. Three words: therapy, therapy, therapy.

Photo of Brown taken days after the beating while Rihanna stayed back at the house.

The more he talks, the less likable he seems (perhaps because the victim herself has not spoken yet and, thus, we feel protective of her — besides, what gives him the right to speak when she hasn’t — especially since he refuses to give her the public apology she deserves?). And then there are the photos of him jet-skiing days after beating Rihanna while she sits in the house waiting for him (still bruised and too ashamed to show her face in public). It has also been brought to light that, immediately after being sentenced for this crime, he partied with friends at a club. It makes him look like a cross between a boy who is too young to understand how his actions are perceived and a douchebag. Not a good look.

I don’t know if anyone has smacked some since into the kid (so to speak) by explaining the seriousness of his actions and how dire his situation is but it appears he is still stuck in la-la land. Here’s what they should have said to him:

You might forever be thought of as an abuser in the minds of people because your actions will live forever in the microfibers of technology (YouTube, TMZ, social media accounts, cell phones, etc.). Society is almost more prepared to forgive a murderer than a man who beats on a woman. You’re screwed. Get therapy, stop doing press, heal and relaunch your career with a renewed mind in a couple of years. Anything else is suicide.”

One thing that, for me, might be Chris Brown’s salvation here is when he reverts back to being a child by admitting neither he nor Rihanna had any idea how to love:

“Nobody taught us how to love one another. Nobody taught us a book on how to — how to control our emotions or our anger.”

Very true. We aren’t taught how to process our love or our anger and we (usually in our 20’s) learn the hard way how to treat people, how not to treat people and how we want to be treated. Unfortunately, Chris Brown may have a harder lesson and dark shadow hanging over him for a long time to come because his mistake and weakness was particularly brutal and captured for the world to see. He might recoup society’s (and his fans’ ) acceptance or fade into oblivion never to be heard from again. Either way, he is light-years way away from being a role model.

Watch the entire interview below.