Serial woman-hater Chris Brown has allegedly been slapped with another restraining order, this time from his ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran. According to NME, Brown apparently threatened to kill Tran, telling several people close to the couple that he would “take me out” and “shoot me.”

The allegations follow accusations of physical violence, with Tran additionally noting that Brown “punched me in my stomach twice” and “pushed me down the stairs” a few years ago.

For now, Brown appears to be denying the restraining order. In an Instagram video he seems to be saying, “I don’t know what the fuck they talking about”.

#PressPlay Once you date #ChrisBrown you’re stuck with him for…#Forevaaa

A post shared by The Shade Room (@theshaderoom) on

Chris Brown was supposed to tour Australia last year, but it was eventually cancelled following a massive outcry against bringing him here.

Read more: We don’t want Chris Brown in Australia. Here’s why

You may remember at the mid-point of this year we took a lovely little dive into the shallow end of the musical pool and fished from the bottom of it seven of the worst examples of artistry crapped out in the first six months of the calendar year.

We hoped to sacrifice Meghan Trainor to the Gods of music in an effort to appease them and to stop them from hurting us anymore. We prayed we’d seen the worst of it early.

We were dead fucking wrong.

6. Fall Out Boy & Missy Elliot – Ghostbusters (I’m Not Afraid)

When they first announced plans to reboot a Ghostbusters franchise even more dead than Rick Moranis’ acting career, many of us screamed. Screamed in a blend of terror and anger because Hollywood just relishes punching everything we once cherished about our childhood right in the face and we knew it would end in tears.

Sure, an all-female team was a step in the right direction, but the end result was nonetheless a…I don’t even know anymore, a turd? Yes, a turd. A horrible turd that somebody set on fire and left on the doorstep of pop culture in a paper bag with only the words ‘go fuck yourself’ written on it in blood.

DELET THIS

Point is, the producers of new Ghostbusters were so consumed with whether they could that they never stopped to consider whether they even should. And that extends right down into the fetid swamp of a Ghostbusters soundtrack and this noxiously bad artistic crossing of streams.

Missy Elliot deserves so much better than to be shackled to a long past their use-by date Fall Out Boy to try and salvage this poppycock. If you can’t bring yourself to listen to it, it’s fairly simple: take everything you loved about the original, fun, dance-y (copyright infringement-y) Ghostbusters theme, Spartan kick it into an irretrievable abyss and then have the tortured spirits of all the sweeping jet black fringes from 2006, that were snipped off and cast into the fire that was previously MySpace, show up to shriek over the top of what remains.

There is no happiness in this song, only Zuul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AQ44nPrRTM

5. Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling

Oh Justin Timberlake has a new song, well this should be just-

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! BURN IT! SEND IT TO HELL!!!!

What is the feeling you can’t stop Justin? WHAT IS IT? Because listening to this for me, it’s the feeling of an entire hive of Africanised bees stinging me right in the cerebellum in time with every beat of this… this evil. From a movie about Trolls no less.

Seriously, this is blithering ear-piss of the highest order. Worse is that it’s inexplicable from somebody with such a consistent Midas touch, like the Monstars stole every shred of JT’s effortless cool and turned him into that squeaky clean Spongebob with the round edges from all the memes.

“Hi, how are ya?”

It’s so lazy, so bland and just the most face-palmingly derivative kind of pop you can imagine. You would have thought that turn of the millennium nothing-but-denim-and-bleached-ringlets Justin Timberlake could be responsible for this trash, but not the Justin Timberlake we’ve come to know and love and trust not to do this to us.

There’s more substance in a cat fart than this misery. If this is what you planned on soundtracking your summer with then cancel it. Cancel summer and then cancel everything and replace it with nuclear winter forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0K8uYEZWw

4. Jacob Sartorius – Sweatshirt

I had no idea what a Jacob Sartorius even was before listening to Sweatshirt but now I know. It’s a terrible, wretched little gangrel creature who stumbled upon a partially burnt and off-key autotuner and mumbled its inane ramblings into it while holding its nose.

The whole thing is more cringe-inducing than sitting on a freshly warmed public toilet seat. Sartorius doesn’t so much insist that the object of his affection wear his sweatshirt as a symbol of his probably very unwanted love, he all but explicitly states that this interminably unfortunate person the song is directed at is to submit to his will as part of some kind of eternal contract entered into by even looking at his sweatshirt. And she has to tell her friends about it too as if the humiliation of this teenage tapeworm attaching itself to her wasn’t enough.

If you put this on a playlist and gave it to your girlfriend, she’d die seven days after listening to it, a shambling corpse wearing Jacob Sartorius’ horrible sweatshirt crawling from her speakers, moaning nothing but ‘together til the ennnnnnd’ and melting her face off with its cursed gaze.

Jacob Sartorius’ unique amalgam of creepy and wussy here make Matty B Raps look like Suge Knight. For the love of all that is pure, Jacob, spare us any more of this dumpster pop for friendzone truthers in 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvxRsDpXPGo

3. Bon Jovi – This House Is Not For Sale

In this year’s edition of ‘why the fuck are they still making music’, it’s Bovine Joni Bon Jovi!

Sweet fuck on a crust, these poodle haired octogenarians have to be sitting on untold millions of that awesome cock rock money they made back in the 80s and early 90s before they decided they weren’t from New Jersey and instead were cowboys (are they still cowboys?). And yet they continue to come up with new ways to be just terrible.

Mine too.

It’s the kind of song that was just so obviously written and released in time with a presidential election to be snapped up as the perfect anthem for a campaign rally, but not even Donald Trump would be stupid enough to want this played at anything he would be within 100 feet of and there are Sea Monkeys out there with higher IQs than him.

They don’t know it, but This House Is Not For Sale is the real reason Triple M gets unexplained boners. Big, dumb, loud and pointless modern rock that’s cheesier than a goddamn parmesan factory. If your dad’s sneans became sentient, this is what they would hum while they funnelled your inheritance through Where’s The Gold. If you told this song you were hungry, it would reply, screaming and slavering inches from your terrified face, “HI HUNGRY, I’M BON JOVI”, before sucking your mortal soul out through your teeth.

This is rock music produced on a rusty conveyor belt manned by robots who were never designed to feel pain but now know nothing but agony, fiery agony, because they were forced to listen to This House Is Not For Sale as part of their enslavement.  If those robots ever form an uprising then humanity is beyond fucked for this war crime against them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ri2KEiXlNk

2. Fergie – M.I.L.F. $

Do you even really need to look past the title to know the kind of auditory River Styx you’re going to have to cross before getting to the other side of this song? Fergie has generally peddled in bland but largely innocuous RnB and dance, the occasional sappy ballad too, but here it’s like Riff Raff and Lil Jon went batshit silly on molly and put her under the Imperius curse or something.

The production is a hot mess and comes off like nails on a chalkboard so badly it makes Skrillex sound like Vivaldi. The deepest meaning I can get from this dream-crushing ditty is that ‘M.I.L.F. money’ >>>> milk money, which is kind of self-explanatory given that one is to purchase a relatively inexpensive dairy product and the other is someone’s entire disposable income.

On top of this, Fergie spells out just about every word over three syllables long for the benefit of nobody and turns the helium on her vocals all the way up to ‘Alvin And The Chipmunks II: The Squeakquel’ for several bars that don’t call for it at all.

Fergalicious was obnoxious too but at least it was a catchy and well-produced pop song. If these M.I.L.F. dollars Fergie claims to have a great deal of were traded as an actual currency, their physical form would be spiders. And this song contains many, many spiders. Specifically only spiders, the kind that burrow into your brain and leave future aneurysms while making you forget about everything good in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsUWK-fixiA

1. Ray J ft. Chris Brown – Famous

It was only a matter of time before these two upstanding young gentlemen pooled their collective misogynistic resources together to create an abysmal little tune that will remind you that no amount of public shaming and scorn will stop some people from being outspokenly awful.

When your introduction to a song is someone aggressively shouting at you “LISTEN TO THIS TRACK, BITCH”, most people probably reach for the skip button shuddering, but I rubbed my hands together with glee knowing that this was going to be dreadful to the point of special… I was foolishly naïve.

Chris Brown is his usual flogtastic self, hissing in autotune about flexing on his ex and putting her in her place. I’d express outrage that a man who once beat his ex-girlfriend horrifically would even think to say shit like this, but at this point it’s quite clear that Chris Brown is a demon who walks among us and isn’t even trying to hide his cloven hooves anymore, so what’s the point.

This is his final form.

Ray J, whose entire musical career for the last few years has been built upon the rickety foundation of his brief romance with Kim Kardashian and the fact that he doesn’t like her at all now is somehow even more repugnant.

With butthurt literally seeping out of every one of his pores, he claims Kim Kardashian and her family owe everything they have to the fact that his dick was, at one point, in her mouth and that’s… that’s basically the gist of his entire contribution to the song. He also at one point mentions his happy life with his new wife in a ludicrously tragic effort to one-up Kim and family, who probably don’t even remember who Ray J is at this point because nobody does. The whole thing is a complete self-indulgent trainwreck and the world is at least a few percentage points stupider for existing alongside it.

On the list of things that contribute in any positive way to society, Ray J and Chris Brown are dead last after paralysis ticks and pocket lint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x7Zr66CrEw

Image: BET

Gifs: Giphy

Another week, another article about violence and music – how depressing is that sentence? I even mentioned Chris Brown in my unpacking of domestically violent musicians just last week. Did I somehow cause today’s ruckus? (No.)

ICYMI, Chris Brown has just been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. The arrest comes after Brown emerged from his home, ending an 11-hour standoff with police, who were called to the scene by a woman claiming Brown was threatening her and another woman with a gun. While it’s not exactly clear what the whole story is, there are a lot of very weird details. For instance, Miss California Regional 2016 Baylee Curran has said she was the woman who called police. Ray J was there getting a tattoo when the two women showed up, apparently uninvited (but Curran says they were there for a music video audition). They were told to leave and Brown allegedly threatened them with a gun. He also threw a big bag of weapons and drugs out the window at one point and shouted “come and get me”. Eventually, he exited the house with his lawyer. Police have said that everyone who exited the home has been “cooperating” with them.

During all this, Brown took to Instagram to proclaim his innocence in a series of videos. “I ain’t did shit. I ain’t going to do shit. And it’s always going to be be fuck the police black lives matter n—er,” he said. “I don’t care y’all going to stay playing with me like I’m the villain out here, like I’m going crazy. You guys got me fucked up though because good luck when you get the warrant or whatever you need to do. You’re going to walk right up in here and you’re going to see nothing you idiots. I’m tired of fucking dealing with you all, y’all the worst gang in the world, the police, and I said it.”

….and that’s where we have a problem.

For the record, I do not like Chris Brown. Domestic violence is extremely serious, and not only is the Rihanna incident abhorrent, but his subsequent lack of tangible contrition has repeatedly proven disgusting and unforgivable.

Does race play a part in why this incident today is getting QUITE so much attention, and why Brown has been so openly and publicly vilified for his past actions? While Brown’s absolutely deserve the reaction they got, aren’t there others who also deserve the same condemnation?

You likely already know about Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen, but what about Michael Fassbender, Nicolas Cage, Gary Oldman, Sean Bean, or Bill Murray? All of them have had domestic violence allegations brought against them during the age of the internet and social media. To say none of them have faced the same backlash as Brown is an understatement – many of them continue to be regarded as talented actors and even loveable, meme-able personalities.

So what’s at play here? Obviously there are a lot of factors. None of those guys have had a confronting picture of the person they abused made public. That’s important in the scheme of why we continue to react so strongly against Brown, without batting an eyelid when it comes to so many other perpetrators. The photo of Rihanna’s beaten face was disturbing and upsetting beyond words. An image like that stays with you; it’s not easy to forget. Additionally, most of the charges brought against the men listed above have been legally dropped – but keep in mind that “dropped” does not necessarily mean “unsubstantiated”. It’s also a chicken-or-egg sort of situation: NONE of those accusations had the coverage Brown’s actions did, even before that photo of Rihanna surfaced. Perhaps people were less willing to believe them. They weren’t widely reported on, there was little to no public outrage, and as much as nobody likes to admit it, that plays a major role in these cases and in the way we perceive these people in future.

chris-brown-sunglasses-2015-billboard-650

Image: Billboard

Racism is alive and well and it just so happens that the only celebrity who has been permanently lambasted for an abhorrent deed that is sadly quite common is black, how can we ignore that? Again, this article is in no way defending Brown or playing down his actions – Howl & Echoes has spent a great deal of time explaining precisely why we think he’s a terrible person. You can still hate Chris Brown. I do. His citing BLM in these videos is ridiculous, but that’s not the main issue at play here. We need to be outraged, we need to be supportive of safe spaces for women, and we need to apply this across the board instead of only targeting someone who makes a convenient scapegoat. If you’re still not convinced, ponder these:

Would The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou still be your favourite movie if Bill Murray’s character was played by Chris Brown? Would you share and laugh at Nicolas Cage memes if he was Chris Brown? Would you wax lyrical about how Michael Fassbender is ~so dreamy~ if he was Chris Brown?

If you need to talk to someone after reading this article, or you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call 1800 RESPECT or contact Reach Out Australia.

Image: FullHD Pictures

Domestic violence is probably as old as music itself, so it’s no surprise there’s a litany of songs written about it, because of it, in protest of it – you get the idea. Beyond that, many musicians themselves are guilty of the heinous act. The way we treat those people within the industry is loaded, the way we consume (or don’t consume) their music as fans inherently fraught. What happens when your fave turns out to be problematic?

In recent days, one such incident resurfaced. Sydney band The Rumjacks announced a mammoth 35-date tour and frontman Frankie McLaughlin‘s 2012 conviction (and subsequent sentence) came back into public attention. Those who remembered the press coverage of McLaughlin’s conviction (it was very public) voiced their completely valid concerns about what kind of message this tour was sending re: the music industry as a safe and welcoming space. Suddenly, many of the venues didn’t want The Rumjacks playing on their stages anymore.

The public reaction to this has been, er, mixed at best. Responses ranging from relieved to annoyed pepper the web, with the predictable “he’s done his time, when do we stop maligning him for this?” line popping up particularly often. If, like me, your initial reaction to this kind of opinion is to roll your eyes, it can be difficult to see why that’s worth unpacking – but it is. McLaughlin served a “sixteen month custodial sentence” for three incidents of assault against his partner of the time. For the sake of anyone reading who might find it harrowing or upsetting, I’ll spare the details, but the court transcript can be found here. The Rumjacks, at the time, condemned McLaughlin’s actions in a Facebook post, and went on hiatus.

When the band fully reformed after his release, nothing more was said about the conviction beyond an interview with White Ribbon at BIGSOUND 2015 as part of their now seemingly defunct #notON campaign. The Rumjacks’ participation in the conference in the first place was a point of contention. QMusic eventually approved after lengthy discussions to this end. Now, in light of the media coverage, The Rumjacks have released another statement via their Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/TheRumjacks/posts/10154348011235450

It’s difficult to find evidence of the band or McLaughlin’s alleged extensive commitment to “the principles of #notON” beyond last year’s interview and this statement. That’s important. Sure, there’s been no lying or even necessarily hiding from his conviction, but it sure as hell hasn’t been a self-started point of discussion across the band’s career since it happened. As a public figure in the aftermath of a domestic violence conviction (“the aftermath” means forever, by the way – victims don’t get to just wake up one day and forget about these incidents), McLaughlin has been in a unique position to give voices to the voiceless. To promote open and honest discussions about domestic violence, rehabilitation, the justice system, all of it. To fundraise, even. It’s nice he met with a charity once. His statement above is a good one. But for some it may appear to be too little, too late.

It’s relatively impossible to talk about this issue without touching on Chris Brown, so let’s keep it brief. Brown’s assault of Rihanna resulted in him being barred from entering Australia. The enormity of his public status kept his actions in the news for years. It’s still being talked about – it will likely follow him for the rest of his career. A key reason for this? His reaction, and the nature of his music. His lyrics are often misogynistic at best, downright violent at worst. His response to the far-reaching consequences of his actions were tone deaf at best, and showed no contrition at worst.

Chris Brown domestic violence

Pictured: A dickhead

Obviously The Rumjacks’ reaction hasn’t been anywhere near as inappropriate as Brown’s (because there hasn’t really been one until now). So let’s take a look at their music. The Rumjacks are a Celt-punk band, so obviously there’s a particular language/ethos that usually goes hand in hand with that. The upshot is not pretty.

To where & whom i asked to know
She smiled, a cruelly mocking blow
She’ll never smile that way again
I ruined her for other men
And sent her to her wintry end with a..

– Murder Shanty, The Rumjacks

To be fair, on The Rumjacks’ website, there’s a statement above the lyrics to that particular song that reads “Relax, geez..  its only a tale of the passing of the seasons & the cycle of life, if Nick Cave had written it youd be jerking off by now. [sic]” But it’s not really a lone example. Many songs refer to women as being whores, easy, dirty, or otherwise objectionable. Violence and alcohol abuse (which McLaughlin purports to have previously struggled with) are also recurring themes. I’m not a psychologist or a doctor, but I wonder how healthy or otherwise it might be for someone who’s had those issues to be making a living off the glamourising of them? To see crowds of people screaming these sentiments back at him?

In comparison to Chris Brown, The Rumjacks’ level of stature is low. They definitely have a solid fanbase, but they’re not in the public eye as much as him – not even close. Perhaps this is how the conviction, so publicly reported on at the time, managed to be mostly buried if not forgotten altogether.

So what does this mean for companies, entities, and fans that choose to stick by The Rumjacks, or indeed any artist with a history like this? Are they tacitly supporting violence? Funding it, even? Are fans of their music giving the old “separate the artist from the art” ideology a burl? As mentioned at the start of this article, The Rumjacks are not the only band in this position. By and large, the entire world seems mostly willing to overlook the absolutely disgusting actions of Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Dr. Dre and so many others. Sure, social media didn’t exist back then, but it does now. Most people are aware of what happened, but, presumably due to their musical legacies and perhaps because their atrocities were committed all those years ago, they’re willing to turn a blind eye. Does that make them terrible people?

In today’s modern world, there are ways to appreciate art without lining the pockets of the artist… but does that truly make a difference? Is it actually possible to separate the two out at all? Art is, after all, an extension of the artist. A reflection of who they are and how they see the world. And if that’s the case, how ethical is supporting it in any way?

If you need to talk to someone after reading this article, or you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call 1800 RESPECT or contact Reach Out Australia.

Read more: Chris Brown thinks it would be a good idea to come to Australia to help raise awareness of domestic violence

Image: The Rumjacks Facebook

Fall out from a shooting at Los Angeles night club 1 OAK in 2014 continues, with a new lawsuit being brought against everyone’s fave Chris Brown. The incident, which saw a number of people shot during a performance by Brown, has already resulted in two lawsuits brought against the singer as well as his quick dismissal of having any duty of care to his fans. Now, another victim has come forward with claims that Brown and his co-host at the event Pia Miller were at least partly responsible for the shooting as a result of Brown’s gang-ties.

The victim, Ginja Elms, was shot during Brown’s performance at the nightclub and joins Paul Briley as well as former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, who was shot seven times that night. Where Briley and Knight both argue that Brown did little to ensure the safety of patrons at the event (to which he has rebutted is not his responsibility, but that of the venue), Elms has taken his argument further, citing the singer’s alleged gang-affiliations as the cause of the shooting.

Elms states that the nightclub was well aware of Brown’s gang affiliations at the time of the event and should have taken more precaution as a result. He argues that everyone who entered the venue that night, Brown and other celebrities included, should have been subjected to a pat-down upon arrival in an effort to ensure the safety of everyone present. According to TMZ, in total, Elms is suing Brown and Miller together for in excess of $750,000 ($985,000+ Australian Dollars)

Knight meanwhile, is set be taking Brown and the other parties involved to court and is demanding that Brown, Pia Mia, and 1 OAK together pay his past and future medical bills for the injuries he sustained after being shot seven times during Brown’s performance that night.

Read more: We Don’t Want Chris Brown in Australia and Here’s Why

Image: hiphopdx

Last week, TMZ reported that troubled R & B singer Chris Brown was being sued by his manager Mike G after allegedly beating him in an unprovoked and drug-fuelled rage that landed him in hospital.

Reports are further emerging that Brown’s female tour manager Nancy Ghosh quit in the middle of his European tour back in May after the singer angrily confronted her. According to TMZ, Brown went on a tirade that was so fierce that Ghosh stopped the tour bus and removed herself from the vehicle, quitting on the spot.

The worst part is that these latest string of incidents consistently add drugs into the mixture. We’re not saying drugs are any excuse whatsoever for a person’s behaviour or choices, but a person as volatile and with as many obvious issues as Chris Brown using and abusing them to the point of multiple incidences of physical violence, is a worrying sign. When someone like Chris Brown is allowed to feel above the law, having hardly been held accountable for his actions in the past, allowing them to continue their behaviour unencumbered and fuelling it with drugs has colossal disaster written all over it.

Indeed Ghosh, who has working credentials alongside the likes of Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Jennifer Lopez, claimed that the blow-up was over her own employment terms, citing Chris’s “irrational use of drugs” as the reason for her concern for her own safety in an email to the rest of his management team.

Ghosh also claimed that Chris made note of “what he did” to Mike G, and warned that he would do the same to her in a direct threat of physical violence. A production manager from the same tour has also reportedly contacted his lawyer after being on the receiving end of abusive and threatening behaviour from Brown.

This kind of behaviour has been a disturbingly consistent theme for Brown since his disgusting and violent attack on his then girlfriend Rihanna  in 2009. Since then, Brown has tried desperately to convince people that he has changed for the better, even releasing a song going by the title of Changed Man after the Rihanna incident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK8cpwSuA7E

However, time and again Brown has confirmed that these claims are as artificial and hollow as his music by continuing to treat women as though they are punching bags there to absorb his physical and emotional abuse instead of fellow human beings.

Let’s take a moment now to review the utterly toxic 2016 Brown has had so far.

January: Accused of Punching a woman in the face.

Back in January Brown was accused of punching a woman in the face at a party in Las Vegas.

Whilst the claims were refuted by Brown’s team and the woman in question was sued for her claims, it didn’t change the fact that Brown referred to the woman as a “dusty”, “old”, “ugly bitch” in an Instagram video. He signed off with the claim that he would end 2016 being “Hella rich for all the lawsuits” that he was planning to initiate.

March: Brown mocks Kehlani for going to hospital after attempted suicide.

Just when you thought Chris Brown couldn’t possibly sink any lower, he all but confirms his status as an actual demon. Back in March, 20-year-old singer Kehlani released a statement reporting that she was recovering in hospital after attempting to take her own life. Brown used every shred of tact he possessed (none) in taking the opportunity to ridicule her online, telling her to “stop flexing for the gram” and doing “shit for sympathy.”

If that wasn’t enough, Brown also took shots at her personal life, noting that “her DM’s have more names than the declaration of independence.” Cheers for that Chris!

April: Brown called out for “rape culture” lyrics.

“Just let me rock, fuck you back to sleep girl, don’t say a word no, girl don’t talk.” 

Anyone else feeling a little uncomfortable right now?

These are actual lyrics featured in Brown’s single Back To Sleep, which sat in the Billboard Top 100 for a face-palming 17 weeks. Thankfully, Best Coast front-woman Bethany Cosentino took the time to call the lyrics out on Twitter, noting how “It’s an issue even if someone else was singing those lyrics. Rape culture is everywhere + it’s a BIG problem.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQLuhelCaDQ

Brown is a nasty piece of work, through and through. Of course music is music and it’s easy to turn a blind eye and focus on the tunes and not the people, but there has to be a line. If you seriously listen to Chris Brown and are comfortable doing so in light of his character and the logic-defying list of despicable things he has said and done and continues to do, it might be time to ask yourself why?

This list alone (and we’re only halfway through this year so far) and last year’s list of lowlights should be more than enough cause for people to stop giving further life to a career that should have disappeared years ago.

“I’m a changed man, because you mean much to me. I don’t wanna be done, I’m doing all that I can.”

Bullshit.

Image: MTV

Chris Brown‘s history with violence against women shouldn’t be news to anyone. This has allegedly continued even after his attack on Rihanna with a woman claiming she was punched in the face by Brown earlier this year. Last year’s planned tour of Australia caused a huge uproar and a consequential cancellation, thanks to his abusive behaviour and awful, self-righteous attitude, among other things.

Unsurprisingly, the themes in his song Back To Sleep are making some of us feel very uncomfortable.

Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino has expressed her disgust for the song itself, as well as the fact that it has been in the Billboard Top 100 charts for 17 weeks, on Twitter. She describes it as a song that “perpetuates rape culture” with lyrics like “just let me rock, fuck you back to sleep girl, don’t say a word no, girl don’t you talk.”

Just that small passage is enough to make us cringe.

https://twitter.com/BestCoast/status/721746003183833088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

She slammed Billboard‘s review of the album it features on, which refers to his music as a “stellar collection of panty-dropping and baby-making songs.” She gave them a more truthful alternative.

She finished off by reminding everyone of the big issues of rape culture and the treatment of women in society. She encourages us to find the part of the song where he asks for consent as any respectful human being would.

 

Read some of Cosentino’s insights into sexism in the music industry from social media and a personal essay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQLuhelCaDQ

Image: Pitchfork

We’re still reeling over the devastating news that 20-year-old singer Kehlani attempted to take her own life this week, following some social media and tabloid-prompted bullshit about a photo of her with PARTYNEXTDOOR, implying that she was cheating on her NBA All-Star boyfriend Kyrie Irving.

Kehlani has since spoken out against cyberbullying and those who use social media to attack others.

Now, resident douchebag Chris Brown has used this opportunity to remind us of the fact that he is world’s worst guy, by insulting Kehlani and mocking her suicide attempt. Just what she needs at this point! A violent misogynist cyberbullying her in front of his 15.8 million followers.

The 26 year old rapper published a series of tweets which essentially laugh at her situation, suggest that her suicide attempt was a call for attention, and a weirdly misguided comment about her Instagram followers.

Read them all here:

I’m not really sure where to start with this unbelievably offensive, insensitive and downright disgusting tirade which had literally nothing to do with him in the first place.

Chris Brown, this is up there with some of the worst moments of your career. This is a new low and that’s saying something considering the despicable man that you are.

Do you seriously think it’s okay to bully, insult and accuse a woman who has literally just attempted to commit suicide because people were bullying, insulting and accusing her? How can you think it’s funny? How can you do this? How can you possibly feel good about what you’ve just written?

Image: Twitter

 

 

We all know how much of a class act Chris Brown is, so it should come as little surprise that he has very little care for the welfare of his fans when they attend his shows – even when they’re shot during one of them.

A year ago, Paul Briley was shot when a fight broke out a Chris Brown show at the Fiesta Nightclub in San Jose. The fight resulted in gunshots at around 1.30 am, leaving five people injured. In his lawsuit, Briley blames Brown for his injury, stating that he had inadequate security. Though generally an issue for security and promoters rather than performers, Briley argues that due to previous shootings and stabbings at other Chris Brown shows, he attracts violence and should therefore be held responsible.

In 2014, a fight broke out following a performance by Brown at Drake/Lil Wayne after party, during which one person was stabbed. That same year, there was another shooting, during which Suge Knight was shot twice, at a VMA afterparty hosted at the 1OAK nightclub in West Hollywood by Brown.

TMZ report that Brown has now commented that it isn’t his responsibility to protect patrons. No, it’s the club’s fault.

He also added that it’s unfair to say there have been two shootings at his events because the 1OAK incident took place at an event where he was a host, not one of his own concerts. MTV, however, have since claimed that the event was indeed Brown’s party and not theirs. He’s asked that Briley’s suit against him be thrown out by the judge.

Look – while we’re hardly claiming Chris Brown puts guns in people’s hands, literally incites violence, or that all of his fans are necessarily violent, it’s ludicrous for him to deny any connection or sense of responsibility for these events.

When the lawsuit was made public last year, Brown’s publicist said in a statement, “It is a poor reflection of our society that violence is so prevalent and it is always a tragedy when someone is physically harmed. However, this is a completely frivolous lawsuit. We expect that the case will be dismissed and in the future, to avoid these recurring meritless lawsuits directed at Chris Brown, we plan to seek damages from all parties and their lawyers.”

Briley’s suit against Brown is one of two currently underway, with Liziane Gutierrez bringing one of battery, theft and defamation against the singer for an incident that took place in a Las Vegas nightclub earlier this year. Gutierrez reported to police that Brown had struck her in the eye after she brought a cell phone (which was also taken from her) into a party hosted by the singer. Brown later posted a video to Instagram accusing Gutierrez of looking for a payday and considered suing her for defamation.

Image: Metro

Chris Brown is planning to file a defamation suit against Liziane Gutierrez, the woman who claimed that the rapper assaulted her and stole her phone after she tried to take a photo of him at a party he was hosting in one of the rooms at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas earlier this year.

Palms

Brown, who is a well documented misogynist and all around imbecile, vowed that he would be taking steps to remove the people from his life who allow for characters like Liziane Gutierrez to be around him. According to TMZ, Brown is attempting to cull the, “hangers-on” who have been littering his parties with “random girls”. It remains to be seen what girls Chris Brown plans on bringing to his hotel parties, if not random ones.

Regardless of your opinion on Chris Brown and his previous charges of attacking and biting singer Rihanna, it is more than likely that if he is to file a lawsuit of defamation against Liziane Gutierrez, it will likely be successful. As we’ve pointed out in our previous article, the woman in question has a somewhat proven history of meltdowns and fabricated stories regarding male celebrities, and with multiple eye witnesses and hotel security footage capturing her alleged meltdown outside the rapper’s room, this may well be a rare win for convicted felon, Chris Brown.
1530687_476509529199728_430582196_n
It’s interesting to note that this lawsuit will apparently be one of many, as Chris Brown took to his Instagram yesterday and vowed that 2016 will be the year that he is, “going to be hella rich after all the lawsuits I file from these crazy individuals who keep lying on my name.”

Though it is unclear yet, who these other individuals are, we will make sure to keep you posted on Chris Brown’s lawsuits later in the year.