Exactly three years ago this week Chris Brown made global headlines after brutally beating popstar girlfriend Rihanna over Grammy weekend. The R&B singer will return to this year's Grammy Awards and perform, reports Reuters.
Brown is up for three Grammy Awards this year—Best R&B Album for F.A.M.E., Best Rap Performance (with Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes) and Best Rap Song for "Look At Me Now."
Brown, 22, saw his career and reputation nosedive in 2009, after he viciously beat then-girlfriend Rihanna following record executive Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party. Both Brown and Rihanna subsequently canceled their appearances at that year's awards ceremony.
The singer pleaded guilty to a felony assault and was sentenced to 5 years probation and six months community service. The sentencing revealed the couple had a history of domestic violence.
Brown has been fairly quiet for the last year or so. Two notable exceptions: That violent outburst behind-the-scenes at Good Morning America. And the gay internet rumors that went viral last fall. Brown tweeted an angry denial and threatened legal action over claims that he was involved in an "down low" relationship with an up-and-coming male singer.
Skin care giant NIVEA has been forced to apologize for an advert that encourages Black men to "re-civilize" themselves. The print ad for Nivea for Men shows a clean-cut Black man tossing the head of a Black man with an Afro and beard—presumably his earlier non-Nivea self—and the motto: "Look Like You Give A Damn ... Re-Civilize Yourself."
The ad was heavily criticized: The "message couldn't be clearer: natural hair on a black man isn't a style preference or a nod to afrocentrism—it's straight-up uncivilized," wrote GOOD's Nona Willis Aronowitz. Public outrage ensued, especially on Twitter, which resulted in a prompt apology by Nivea.
Beiersdorf AG, the parent company of Nivea, released the following statement to CNN: “After realizing that this ad is misleading, it was immediately withdrawn.” The apology also emphasized that Nivea values and represents “diversity, tolerance, and equal opportunity.” Nivea USA also posted on its Facebook page: “This ad was inappropriate and offensive. It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again.”
The controversy unfolded across Twitter on Wednesday. #Nivea became one of the top trending topics on the social networking platform.
The advert was part of a new branding campaign that also uses white male models. None of the others ads, with the exception of the one using the Black model, employ the term "civilize", reports Ad Age.
Rihanna is one of its Nivea's celebrity spokesmodels. Rihanna has made no comment on the controversy.
ClutchmagOnline gives the brand a sarcastic benefit of the doubt: "Perhaps they are trying to capitalize on the popularity of Planet of the Apes?”
Taiwan's Next Media Animation takes on Chris Brown's anger management issues and his recent violent outburst backstage at Good Morning America.
The short offers a creative and amusing take on America's love-hate relationship with celebrity ... and a few comparisons to the Charlie Sheen trainwreck. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...
Celiz Cruz and Tito Puente are honored with U.S. stamps.
Sweden replaces stamps with text messages. "Users will send a text to the postal service, and receive a code. That code gets scribbled on a piece of snail mail and voilà! It's ready to be sent."
Syrian troops open fire on protesters. "Human rights groups said that since protests began seven days ago in the south, 38 people had been killed by government forces—and it appeared that many more were killed on Friday. Precise details were difficult to obtain Friday because the government sealed off the area to reporters and denied access to the country to foreign news media."
GOP recall drive ahead of schedule in Wisconsin: "Dems say they’ve gathered more than half the signatures they need to hold elections to recall GOP Senators and are now flatly predicting they’ll take back the state senate."
A cautionary tale: Black, gay NYC escort shares story of "hustling, drug addiction, bareback sex, AIDS, depression."
Soulja Boy in grief over the death of his brother.
AT&T's $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile faces "steep climb" for approval.
NYT profiles Newark Mayor Cory Booker's constant use of Twitter: "Part of Mr. Booker’s success is his real-world networking with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt, but a huge part is his social networking dexterity. He’s quick, for obvious reasons, to mention Facebook as well as Twitter. Still, the most striking part is his Twitter feed, with its crowdsourcing on local problems, motivational snippets, Dalai Lama-citing, Springsteen-quoting and general air of hyper-caffeinated hyper awareness.
A softer and more mature Chris Brown is featured in a stunning editorial in the new issue of FLAUNT. The editors have kindly provided Rod 2.0 with an exclusive preview for readers.
Kevin Amato lenses the six page editorial and Long Nguyen is the style director. The same creative team was behind Haaz Sleiman's hotness, American Idol Jenry Bejarano's bulging couture and that hot-ta-def Prada feature with Shawn Sutton and Salieu Jalloh. The styling includes Tom Ford, Prada, Diesel and Calvin Klein.
Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder slash Rihanna's main squeeze Matt Kemp squezes into some fitted polos and swings his big ole bat for the May GQ. One more AFTER THE JUMP ...
In your regular update on gay vague British boyband of the moment JLS: Pop star Rihanna confesses that she fancies Marvin Humes, the often-shirtless musclepup of the group. Oh and the Brits are none to keen on Rihanna's interest in the young JLSer. The Sun:
"The pair were both partying at Mahiki nightclub in London's West End last week. Rihanna has since told friends she spotted Marvin and was hoping he would say hello. She told the pals: 'JLS are super talented and super sexy. It would have been cool if Marvin had come over and said hi. Maybe next time. Or if they are ever over in the States we could hook up.' "
ABC's Good Morning America (disclaimer: former employer) is being criticized for immediately booking convicted felon and girlfriend abuser Chris Brown after canceling Adam Lambert over his pan-sexually charged American Music Awards performance, the New York Post reports:
Brown will do a taped tell-all with Robin Roberts, followed by a performance of songs from his new album. But TV insiders say the appearance, slated to air the week after next, has outraged feminists and gay activists who wonder why a convicted girlfriend abuser is more palatable to the network than an openly gay man who broke no laws with his raunchy performance on the "American Music Awards."
An ABC source said, "The network is giving a mixed message—that it doesn't trust someone who shocked with an unpredictable show and a gay kiss, but then it is happy to go ahead with Chris Brown, who was convicted of felony assault." ABC News has insisted that Lambert's sexual orientation did not play a role in its decision to pull the plug on his "GMA" appearance this week.ABC insiders said they ruled the "American Idol" star's sexed-up shenanigans on Sunday's awards show -- which included him groping a female dancer, kissing a male musician and shoving a male dancer's face into his crotch—were inappropriate for morning TV. One said, "He was not canceled over a gay kiss. He showed himself to be unpredictable on live TV."
This is very moving. During the same week that several gay teens were violently attacked and killed across the country, popular YouTube and Twitter personalities ShawnQT and FiveBlackGuys re-enact these disturbingly all-too-common attacks. It's a short video but packs plenty of punch. A montage of familiar scenes from the Civil Rights Movement brings the message home. Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" accompanies the video, a good selection for its theme and also to helps to attract younger viewers.
One young gay man responds: "This vid was sad and heartbreaking but its the truth...its sad that we as gay people have to experience such hate just for being true to ourself... a couple of weeks ago i was threathen by some guys i didnt even know they called me faggot they said to me get off this street before they kick my ass u faggot....i was just walking to the store minding my own bussiness they had so much hate in their eyes that it actually scared me thank God i wasnt attacked."
