Felon Chris Brown has finally started his 180-days of community service. I think I hear the strains of Etta James’ “At Last”. Anyway, Chris began today in Richmond, Virginia by picking up garbage and “cleaning police horse stables”. Awesome. I hope they ran out of plastic gloves. Before he left his home to begin cleaning, Chris tweeted “On my way to community service.” This is a much better statement than his whine on Larry King Live, “I could do a lot more to help the community other than picking up trash.” And hey, at least it wasn’t a cryptic message to Rihanna… right? Is that how low the bar has been set?
Chris Brown has started his 180-day community labor sentence.
Wearing a bright orange vest, the 20-year-old singer — who was also sentenced to five years of probation and a year of domestic violence classes for assaulting Rihanna — was spotted picking up garbage and cleaning police horse stables on Wednesday in his Richmond, Va., hometown.
Brown wasn’t embarrassed about it.
Earlier in the day, he Twittered, “On my way to community service.”
The chief of police in Richmond – who will supervise Brown – has said Brown’s other labor will include graffiti removal and washing cars. His labor hours will be flexible to accommodate his entertainment career.
In an interview with CNN’s Larry King in September, Brown said it is difficult for him to look at the photo showing Rihanna’s bruised face.
“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t believe that that actually happened,” he said.
Because of a judge’s restraining order, he has to keep his distance from Rihanna for the next five years.
Said Brown, “We have to be like 10 yards away from each other.”
[From Us Weekly]
As CB and others have said, Chris Brown (and the community) might be better served if he had to actually work at a women’s shelter or do something related to domestic violence. Chris (and all abusers) would benefit from that kind of real-world education, and perhaps Chris might behave and speak without sounding like a self-absorbed, whining, nasty, abusive little bitch. But I’m not disappointed with Chris’s cleaning duties. I am thrilled that the community service involves horsesh-t. I hope the Richmond police keep their horses on a high-fiber diet. And I hope they never remember to buy gloves.
Okay Kaiser I think that just made my day. I only lament the fact that he doesn’t have to do it on the side of the road with rush hour traffic bearing down on him and laffing at him, buns up.
And, oh yeah, Traffic-Cone Reflective Orange becomes him.
While it would be satisfying to have him have to help out in a shelter, I think it would ultimately cause more harm than good. DV Shelters exist to give the survivor a safe place away from the violence. If survivors had to worry about domestic violence perpetrators being at their shelter, then we would be taking away a sense of security and mitigating their safe space. Just something to keep in mind.
LMFAO!!!!!!!
Oh irony how I love you so!
Kanye to Chris: “Hey Chris! Imma let you finish but back in the day I was the best horseshit producer of all time!!!”
http://kanyegate.tumblr.com/
I agree with Audrey, keep Chris Brown the hell away from those poor women at the shelters. Maybe, though, it would be good for Chris to have an intimate talk with a group of women (who volunteer) who triumphed over their abuse and are now living regular lives – like circle up a bunch of chairs at a community center and have Chris sit there between them and actually have a dialog with these women. They can tell their stories, ask him questions, and he can ask them questions too. It would probably help him a whole lot.
But haha, the thought of him having to get on his hands and knees in a stable and scrub the floors is hillarious and awesome.
Everyone brace yourselves. The Chris Brown supporters will come out in full in the next hour or so.
gg, I agree completely.
@audrey
You beat me to it. Domestic violence shelters exist to help the victims of domestic violence. Allowing perpetrators into the shelter will take away from the safety and security of the people who live there.
The DV shelters I work with don’t even allow men in. There are separate safehouses for male victims of DV since they are in the minority. My friend worked at a shelter, and she explained it to me like this: Women are generally the victims of domestic violence (not always, I acknowledge this). Having a man in the shelter often makes them feel unsafe. Whether or not they are unsafe is not the point. Their feelings are more important.
I think Chris Brown should be doing something much worse than picking up garbage. Frankly, I think he should be serving jail time, but I know that it’s unusual even with normal people, let alone celebrities.
I recently heard an interview with Clive Davis, and he said he believed everyone deserved a second chance.
There are more than two hips in front of that hooray.
(hip, hip, hip, hip,,,hooray – for those of you who didn’t get the reference)
However, back to being serious, I think a second chance should be given if the person understands the offense, has insight into what happened, and can act in a way so that it does not happen again. Finally, the person needs to apologize in a way that it is clear that he/she is taking the steps to rid the demons from their self so that it does not happen again.
I just don’t see any public indication that he understands what he did. All the interviews, all his tweets… I have yet to hear any remourseful statement from him which seemed to be coming from his heart rather than his publicist’s office.
As Rhett Butler said (paraphrasing) – ‘he wasn’t sorry for what he did, he was just sorry for being caught’.
Hopefully he will purchase a stunning orange bow-tie to go with his vest! Or a different colored one for every day of the week!
Oh, sweet sweet schadenfreude!
People please! He was a teenager who fought his girlfriend and has been appropriately handled by the law. The domestic violence has been acknowledged by ALL as reprehensible, including this blogger! Making this mistake once and being duly punished by the law and apparently Rihanna should be enough!
You cannot look at a person going about their daily affairs and assume they bear no personal burden. He deserves to return to the life before the incident, if it should happen again, then you can hang his picture in effigy if you want.
Why is it when a black celebrity gets into trouble and PAY for it by jail time and fines or whatever, that it is not over then? Are Chris Brown and Michael Vick to be hanged?! They were judged by YOUR LEGAL SYSTEM!!! Let them blend back into their places in society. GEEZ!
I’m astonished that no-one has mentioned Brown and a high horse…
So much we can do with that! LOL
Gemini – You may be a card carrying member of the black male protectionists, but have some standards. This man is a CRIMINAL. He’s not an innocent little boy. He doesn’t need any coddling or protection.
Chris Brown brought this crap on himself! The criticism he is getting is well deserved and contrary to what you believe, it’s not racist to criticize a black male. He shows classic signs of being a psychopath so I don’t think he should get a second chance. I’d be happy if he faded away for good.
You may be a black woman also, but you’ve clearly have been drinking the kool aid. The dude beat the crap out of a black women! To me, the saddest thing is that 95% of black male protectionists are black women who never question defending black males despite what crimes they comment. If someone has been unfairly targeted, then by all means I will join in speaking up for that injustice. But when someone is clearly guilty and unrepentant I’m not going to excuse his misdeeds because we happen to share the same color.
Well Iggles, you do assume a LOT! The court of public opinion is so fickle. I stated above that I think the behavior is reprehensible (do you know what that means?) The law has rendered the verdict, and he has been punished. You seem so judgmental, no need to attack me for offering a DIFFERENT take on this. You are no more right than the rest of the condemners. I hope when you do something you are not proud of, you remember how hard you were on someone else. Who by the way, you don’t know, and you probably were not even a fan to begin with!! Sorry about the assumption I just made, but I guess you’re rubbing off on me. LOL!
One thing I haven’t heard anyone say is that Chris CAN go and speak to young men/do work in the community that he thinks will be more beneficial to society. It just won’t count towards community service time. In fact, if he was serious about wanting to change rather than just making excuses he WOULD seek out organizations he could volunteer for, for his own personal benefit, not just because it’s court ordered.
I heard on the radio that he brought his own bodyguard while picking up trash. I guess the armed guards provided by the state weren’t good enough.
He shouldn’t worry. No one will hurt him. People would rather see him in one piece picking up used condoms and horse shit. Sweet justice.
““When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t believe that that actually happened,” he said.”
That says it all. If he actually felt responsible he would have said “I can’t believe I actually did that.” That wording tells me that he is still trying to distance himself from responsibility for what HE DID, not what “happened.”
i hope they made him use his bare hands.
Why would anyone think race is involved in the overall condemnation of Brown when the victim was a black woman? I would think it’s just the opposite. People of all colors, condemn the attack on a woman…race has nothing to do with it. I have been offended by his whining public appearances and his seeming lack of remorse. Black or white…any man who gets violent with a woman deserves whatever comes his way.
Dude, horseshit is no big deal. I’ve mucked stables since I was 9 and I’ve never actually touched the shit with my hands, let alone need gloves. You do it with a rake. If THAT is supposed to be a punishment..
Dog shit is way worse to clean up. Smells worse too.
“When I look at it now, it’s just like, wow, like, I can’t believe that that actually happened,” he said.
Try “I can’t believe I ACTUALLY DID THAT” and I might believe he has actual remorse going on. Still sounds like denying responsibility to me.