Chris Brown has done a really good job of staying out of the headlines since he was officially released from jail at the beginning of this month. In fact, a lot of his fans thought the singer may have grown up quite a bit during his time behind bars. Maybe that’s true. Maybe it isn’t. Either way, he’s battling some bad headlines tonight after a video emerged of the singer in what appeared to be an extremely inebriated state.
The video in question was shot following the BET Awards at an after-party, and it’s currently running up on TMZ. It features Chris Brown and several members of his entourage and/ or bodyguards walking out from inside the venue to their waiting car. The scene is, of course, bedlam as awards ceremony after-parties always are, but there’s something strange about the footage. The members of the entourage seem to be helping the singer along, as if he’s not totally with it.
Quite a few outlets have, of course, jumped to the conclusion that he’s heavily intoxicated in the footage. That may well be the case. Given the way musicians behave, you ordinarily wouldn’t even think anything of it. God only knows what your average rock star gets up to after a show, but when it comes to Chris Brown, there is quite a bit of hope that he’s going to get the momentum going in the right direction. People are waiting for him to slip and fall again, and any reports of drinking or alleged drinking are bad headlines.
A case could be made that he’s one of the most talented pop stars since Michael Jackson, but because of all the ugly headlines that have followed him over the years, that talent isn’t what the majority of people see. Instead, they see a thug or whatever negative term they'd like to use. Some of that anger is warranted because of mistakes he's made, but everyone deserves the chance to grow up after paying for their crimes.
The actual BET Awards represented Brown’s first on-stage appearance since he was released from jail. He showed up in the shiniest and coolest red shoes I have ever seen, and the crowd ate the performance up. Ideally, we’ll read about more of those headlines moving forward.
