Last week while leisurely reading Sunday’s NY Times, I came across an article entitled “When Publicists say Shh!”. The article featured R&B singer Chris Brown and his former publicists. After reading only few lines of the article I noticed an error. The first paragraph read “The rapper Chris Brown and his publicist parted ways on March 22, the same day Mr. Brown shattered the window of a dressing room during a violent tirade at “Good Morning America” immediately I re-read the sentence and thought to myself something is wrong. Chris Brown is not a rapper! He is indeed an R&B singer. The New York Times promptly corrected this error after I wrote a letter to the editor demanding a retraction. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/fashion/17PUBLICISTS.html)
The term “Rapper Chris Brown” was not only incorrect but had a negative connotation due to the articles subject matter. Mr. Brown is recovering from an abundance of harmful press. Including but not limited to his domestic dispute with pop artist Rihanna. This use of the word “rapper” may appear minuscule however it is not. An objective party reading an article about a young man who has Tattoo sleeves on his arms, and bleach blonde hair may assume Mr. Brown is a criminal. Rappers are known for evoking bad press and many times the public views them as hoodlums, criminals, drug users/pushers etc. It was politically incorrect for The New York Times to slander Mr. Brown by referring to him as a ‘rapper’ when he is in deed a talented R&B artist
2 comments:
Kudos to you Tiffany!
Chris Brown is clearly a talented R & B artist and hopefully the world can remember that no one is without their faults. Chris Brown will get past this. After all...Kobe Bryant got past his slight indiscretion because at the end of the day...he made money for the powers that be.
While I applaud you taking the action to get the statement corrected, i wonder if it is more a sin of over-generalization than straight out SLANDER.
There is also a case to be made that Chris Brown has become a sort of "Rapper". his mixtapes have him spittin on them as do a lot of his mainstream music.
I also find it hard to believe that it takes the NYT to call Mr. Brown a "Rapper" to highlight the fact that he has embraced the "Image" of a Thug. Not saying it is a bad thing, I don't have any specific issues with Thug dudes but I would argue that it is difficult for those who are not very into Mr. brown's music to be able to tell him from any random "Rapper" out there
One could also argue that in your defense of Mr. Brown you have equated all 'Rappers" to be criminals...wouldn't that also be "Slander"?
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