Jessica, you’re probably right that Chris Brown’s tantrum on Good Morning America may not stop his comeback. I’m not even sure we can call it a comeback given that he never went into full hiatus and his popularity, though dented, never really hit the skids. (Remember the legions of teenage girl fans that came to his defense and seemed to blame Rihanna for “asking” for the beating he gave her?) After this February 2009 assault on Rihanna, he showed up at star-studded parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere, starred in a movie , and performed during the widely watched Michael Jackson Tribute at the 2010 BET Awards where, interestingly, he broke down on stage and cried while singing Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” (I’m sure there were some Freudian emotions going on that night that he should probably explore with the help of a good psychologist.)
It’s good that the GMA incident is all over the web today and was discussed on morning news/talk shows. It certainly won’t help his already damaged reputation or win back the lucrative endorsement deals he lost the last time he lost his temper, but maybe it will prompt his friends, family, or his media handlers to get him the help he clearly needs to manage his anger.
What was most striking to me about the GMA incident, other than the rage that drove him to throw a chair through a window, was his physical appearance. Compare his current look with this choirboy image he presented when he went on Larry King Live in September 2009, accompanied by his weepy mother , to express remorse about the physical altercation between him and Rihanna -“I feel totally ashamed of what I did,” he said then-and to assure his fans "… that’s not who I am as a person, and that’s not who I promise I want to be.” Yeah right. His new look is also a far cry from this clean-cut look he sported in court to face charges for the attack. The tattoo and the over-the-top reaction to being asked questions he didn’t like point to an outsized ego of a spoiled and entitled man-child who may just be a ticking time bomb of festering anger after growing up with an abusive stepfather.
Photograph of Chris Brown by David McNew for Getty Images.
