THE FACTS
Chris Brown offered his thoughts on the Tiger Woods controversy in a recent radio interview.

THE SPIN
When asked about Tiger Woods, Chris Brown told Mojo in the Morning: “My hat goes off to him. I support him. I hope he gets back on the field and does his thing because is the best at it.”

And more specifically, Chris thinks Tiger deserves a second chance.

As he explained:

“I think people always deserve a second chance. I know my fans gave me a second chance and people gave me a second chance. Whatever his personal life is—and I think this goes for me and him—his personal life is his personal life. Nobody has the right to place judgment or make any judgment on somebody else’s personal life when they’re not directly involved with them. He plays golf. That’s his sport, that’s his hobby, that’s his love, that’s what people love him for. They don’t love him for the other stuff that they talk about. Even with me, I do music, I sing songs, I’m an entertainer, I’m a performer. But people make mistakes. I think people have to realize that everybody’s human. The good thing is, if you learn from your mistakes, then that’s a part of life. I think that’s a part of living and learning from mistakes and becoming a better person and growing from situations.”

I agree with the overall sentiment, but this part gets me: “Nobody has the right to place judgment or make any judgment on somebody else’s personal life when they’re not directly involved with them.”

If this came from the mouth of Sade, I’d understand. She’s had some legal trouble in recent years and has been subject to rumors about certain things, but not many talk about it. Why? Because she never opens herself up in that way. She doesn’t offer audiences some goody goody image of herself that she uses as a means to become a celebrity endorser.

Tiger Woods showed off his family. Tiger Woods crafted this “perfect” image of himself, which he used to sell products for companies and serve as a role model to children. His personal behavior conflicted with the professional image he created to make money outside of golfing. Of course people are going to talk about it.

Same for Chris Brown. You can’t be a clean cut pop locker then pop someone in the mouth and expect folks to say, “Oh that’s your business.” Especially if we know who you hit.

Both deserve second chances, and I wish each man well, but is it me or do some celebrities want to have it both ways?

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YOUR SPIN: Waht do you think?  Tell us here.

Image courtesy of etonline.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One. TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

THE FACTS
A new Washington Post piece interviews, Karyn Langhorne Folan, author of the new book, Don’t Bring Home a White Boy: And Other Notions That Keep Black Women From Dating Out.

THE SPIN
Black women have been hit pretty hard lately in the press. First, all of the mainstream media outlets pick up on reports of the difficulties of Black women to find a Black male counterpart to date.

Most recently, a controversial billboard campaign was launched targeting Black women in Atlanta – claiming that abortion has led to Black children becoming an endangered species.

And now, we’re back to Black women needing a man – since you’d need a man to get you pregnant to need a pro-life person attacking you anyhow.

Karyn Langhorne Folan has written a book advising Black women to think outside of their race to net a partner.

Naturally, she’s already gotten the clap back.

Here’s some of what she said in the profile:

She is not bashing all Black men or implying that all Black women are aiming for the altar. The writer, mom and Harvard-educated lawyer says that she is just offering a reasonable solution to the shortage of available Black men.

“Consider your options,” she says. Expand your horizons. Stop listening to your girlfriends. Forget about the brothers calling you a sellout. Get over those old images of slavery and stop blaming every White man for sins perpetrated by others.

“In short,” Folan says, “some Black women choose to demonize all White men rather than look objectively at the facts of our modern times, which are these: Some men, whatever their race, are bad for us. And the converse is true as well. Some men, whatever their race, are good for us.”

Now obviously those sort of statements will attract potential book buyers, but Black women have you grown tired of this discussion or is this something worth agonizing over in the press?

Moreover, how do you feel about being told who to date? Note that the author herself is a Black woman.

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YOUR SPIN: What do you think, should Black women really look outside the race?  Tell us here.

Image courtesy of interracialdatingcentral.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One. TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

THE FACTS
A judge has ruled that a 2009 suit filed against Rickey Smiley can go on.

THE SPIN
Last May, Henry Robinson sued comedian and Dallas radio host Rickey Smiley. Robinson accused Smiley of costing him his job following Smiley questioning his sexuality live on radio.

The incident, as told by the Dallas Observer is as follows:

Smiley was getting off a plane, and folks who recognized him — including Robinson — asked for photos. Robinson, though, says that when he asked for a second snapshot with Smiley, the host called him, among other things, “the gay security guard” — first in the terminal, then on the radio.

So what’s the big deal? Robinson’s explanation:

Robinson’s initial complaint “expressly denies” he’s gay and says that when Smiley called him out on the air — in a poem called, brilliantly, “Henry, Henry” — his job performance went south: “Robinson was an exemplary worker and did not have any work related problems until after the radio transmission.” Smiley’s attorneys have been trying to get the case dismissed by insisting, look, the host didn’t mean anything by it, he wasn’t trying to defame the poor fella … and … um … satire!

You know, I hate the whole “you’re gay” accusation as a punchline. It’s sophomoric.

Last Friday a judge refused to toss the case out, writing that “at a minimum … judicial caution requires the Court to acknowledge that the imputation of homosexuality might as a matter of fact expose a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule.”

The one thing the judge did toss out was Team Smiley’s “satire” defense.

You can tell how I feel about the matter, but I’d love to get your perspective: Is this an instance of way too much political correctness or is it about time public figures take responsibility for the things they say?

Source

YOUR SPIN: What do you think, does the guy have a case?  Tell us here.

Image courtesy of dallasobserver.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One. TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)