If parents and critics expect an apology from Rihanna over her recent music video "Man Down," they're out of luck. The pop diva went on a Twitter rant yesterday defending her controversial video — in which she is seen shooting a man who assaulted her — and thanked supporters.
"I'm a 23 year old rockstar with NO KIDS! What's up with everybody wantin me to be a parent? I'm just a girl, I can only be your/our voice!" she tweeted Thursday afternoon. "Cuz we all know how difficult/embarrassing it is to communicate touchy subject matters to anyone especially our parents! … And this is why! Cuz we turn the other cheek! U can't hide your kids from society, or they'll never learn how to adapt! This is the REAL WORLD!… The music industry isn't exactly Parents R Us! We have the freedom to make art, LET US! Its your job to make sure they dont turn out like US."
The songstress has been receiving a great deal of backlash for her latest video, primarily from the Parents Television Council and former BET music programmer Paul Porter, who calls the video "an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song." Porter argued that if Chris Brown had created a similar video, BET would not premiere it, so therefore Rihanna doesn't deserve to "get a pass."
Of course they wouldn't let Chris premiere a video like that — he was guilty of brutally assaulting a woman — but that's beside the point. Rihanna's message to girls is not to go around killing men; all you have to do is listen to the lyrics to understand that. While we don't condone violence, Rihanna was bringing to life an issue that she has in fact experienced — sans the shooting. But hey, if BET can ban Ciara's video "Ride" for being too sexy, then they have a right to ban Rihanna's video for gun violence — along with a number of hip-hop videos shown on the music channel.
Read more at the Huffington Post.
In other news: Weinergate Picture Recipient: I'm Collateral Damage.
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