Martial Arts Involved in Chris Brown, Rihanna Assault Case?
February 11, 2009 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: MMA,Martial Arts,Opinion,Recent Events,children
Recently singer-songwriter Chris Brown was charged with assault on girlfriend Rihanna (singer). Here are the details:
“They began squabbling after leaving Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party late Saturday. Shortly after midnight, things blew up. Brown pulled his silver Lamborghini to the side of a street in L.A.’s Hancock Park neighborhood. That’s when, per the source, Rihanna grabbed the car keys and tossed them out the window, sending Brown into a rage.
He tried in vain to find the keys, then came back to the car, put his hands around her neck and, according to the insider, said, ‘I’m going to kill you!’ According to the source, the 20-year-old ‘Disturbia’ singer told police that she lost consciousness, and when she awoke, Brown had fled.” – E Online
Here are some further details on the physical nature of the assault:
“The source told Access Hollywood that Chris Brown allegedly hit Rihanna with his fists and bit her during the alleged incident, which took place around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Brown, 19, was arrested on Sunday and charged with felony criminal threats. He was released on $50,000 bail.” – MSNBC
Most news sources also gave two other bits of information:
“In a 2007 interview with Giant magazine, Brown said his mother had been physically abused by his stepfather.
‘He used to hit my mom,’ he was quoted in the article. ‘He made me terrified all the time, terrified like I had to pee on myself. I remember one night he made her nose bleed. I was crying and thinking, ‘I’m just gonna go crazy on him one day … ’ I hate him to this day.’
In the same interview, he said he had studied martial arts, which he used to defend himself once in a fight with several classmates. Brown said after his mother broke up the fight, he urged her not to go to the police. ‘Don’t go to no cops pressing no charges,’ he reported begging her, ‘like we don’t do that in the hood.’”- Times Dispatch
This is extremely unfortunate. Cases of domestic violence are always outraging, and when it occurs between high profile individuals the consequences can be widespread. Celebrities carry the responsibility of maintaining personas worth emulating, and when the wrong message is sent (like in this case), the trickle down effect can be very undesirable.
There’s little doubt that Chris Brown wouldn’t want his actions to influence fans negatively (or impact his career negatively), but should he be officially convicted of these charges, he’ll become part of a very unfortunate ‘fraternity’ of musicians who are infamous for inappropriate and dangerous behavior.
Although Rihanna’s health (and proper repercussions toward Brown) are the most important factors here, there is something more subtle that concerns me. Almost every news source I encountered while investigating this case vaguely mentioned something about Chris Brown’s martial arts practice. For example:
“Brown, known in addition to his singing for his athletic feats of dancing — he has performed upside-down — previously said he studied martial arts, according to the New York Daily News.”
Here is a handful of reputable news sources I found stating something along those lines -
Huffington Post – Rihanna Bloodied, Beaten, Bitten by Chris Brown
Gaurdian – Rihanna Was Victim of Alleged Chris Brown Assault
MSNBC – Brown Bit Rihanna, Hit Her With Fists
ABC News – Can Chris Brown Bounce Back?
MTV News – Rihanna Reportedly The Victim in Chris Brown Case
Times Dispatch – Chris Brown Charged After Argument with Rihanna
What are they implying? What is the point of including this piece of information? It seems relatively harmless, but the cultural implications are actually much broader than we might think.
First, they might be suggesting that Chris Brown’s martial arts experience aided in the effectiveness of his assault on Rihanna. That would be a legitimate aspect of the story if any reports indicated something other than a barbaric act of violence.
The three types of attacks cited are choking, biting, and hitting with the fist. Which of those stands out as martial in nature? I would understand if Brown were using high kicks or perhaps joint locks, but the kinds of attacks mentioned are indicative of an enraged man using brutal, untrained methods to cause damage. I think it’s clear that martial arts were not involved in the physical act of this attack.
Second, they might be suggesting that Brown’s martial training turned him into an aggressive, violence-prone individual. If this is the case, then it demonstrates that the negative sterotypes of martial arts are as strong as they ever were.
With karate or taekwondo schools in every small town in America, one would think that information regarding martial arts would be wide spread. One would also hope that, while many schools might be suspect in quality (aka mcdojo), they would at least teach the essential maxim of ‘defense only’. Just from my personal experience, I think that most do. Certainly there are plenty of exceptions and there ARE violent martial artists, but not nearly enough to suggest that martial arts are a cause of widespread violence, especially in domestic cases. Sadly, I think the history of abuse in Brown’s family is much more telling.
MMA practitioners should be a little worried too. Riding alongside the ‘martial art’ claim is this report from an anonymous police officer:
“According to TMZ.com, unnamed law enforcement sources said Rihanna’s contusions “look like an MMA [Mixed Martial Arts] fighter or something … [It] looked like she was growing devil’s horns.” - Mercury News
That’s not good.
I’ve seen a lot of MMA fights and a lot of COPS. Getting hit in the face always looks roughly the same. Which, like I said earlier, is another obvious reason martial arts weren’t involved with this case – there were no armbars or ankle locks here that would be indicative of MMA.
Ultimately, I think the news sources would simply defend themselves by saying ‘well this was a case of violence…and martial arts are about violence, so that warrants the connection.’ For them, Brown’s martial arts experience was a juicy nugget they found stashed away in a two year old interview, but perfect for his recent troubles. To me, in a case that is all about sending the wrong message, this is yet another message that shouldn’t have been sent.
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View Comments
Great article!
These writers obviously don’t know even the basic tenets of martial arts–not that I do, but I know that non-violence is a big one.
‘Hmm, something violent happened? Let’s see what we can find in the archives that would indicate that he would later do something violent….oh, martial arts training! Sweet! Martial arts = violence. We’ve got a story!”
So, they did their research on Chris Brown…not so much on the martial arts part, though.
Also, she should dump him. I know that should be obvious, but I’ve seen worse.
Interesting post. Most martial artists hold themselves to a higher standard. Good martial artists understand using appropriate force. The fact that the media is bringing up martial arts in this mess that can clearly only be described as domestic violence is ridiculous.
I’d like to ask that police officer how many people he’s seen that have been beat up who didn’t look like they just walked out of an MMA ring. Irresponsible statements that are being dramatized in the media for the sake of a news story.
Oh, and the Huffington Post as a reputable news source. LOL. I’m just saying.
I’d also like to say that even more ridiculous than what Chris Brown did to Rihanna, is the fact that many young people are like, “What? What’s it matter if she’s a girl? Maybe she was out of line or running her mouth.” Go read the comments on MTV’s website. It’s a scary time to be raising two girls.
Foxy: Definite dump. You can’t have any flexibility with that or it’ll happen again.
BBM: Yea there is definitely some dramatization going on for the sake of public consumption. As for the comments on MTV, that is definitely disappointing. It makes me glad I never watch MTV.
As for the Huffington Post – well you know, it’s “reputable”, haha. It’s just one of the sites I grabbed; there are a ton more out there.
Let me make it clear that I do NOT watch MTV. I merely read a news story on MTV’s website that was linked from somewhere else. We cool? Good.
I actually figured you clicked through from my link above. The ‘watching’ portion was just about me.
I really dont know what word to describe after reading this. Sad for the whole situation? Frustrated that the martial arts get a bad name or just feel sorry for the girl that has to put up with it?
And yeah, I hope she leaves too.
This is a classic case of domestic abuse, which as you mentioned, is a reflection of Brown’s experiences growing up, as opposed to martial arts turning him into a monster. (Trust the ignorant media to make that stupid leap in logic) Oh and what kind of man bites and chokes a woman? I guess not much of one.
* Celebrities are responsible for setting our moral standard.
* Choking, biting and punching are not martial arts techniques.
* Martial artists are not especially prone to violence.
* Martial arts are for defense only.
* These news reports sent the wrong message.
Respectfully, these are all examples of wishful thinking, and you folks seem to be countering one set of fantasy stereotypes with another.
Fair points Chris. There are definitely some assumptions made on my part as to the general nature of martial arts. However I think you may have misinterpreted some of the arguments:
* No one said anything about celebrities being responsible for setting moral standards. What I did say is that young people will and do emulate them, so they carry the burden of creating a positive persona (whether or not they choose to recognize that). This is unmistakeably true.
* Choking, biting, and punching are not ‘particularly’ martial arts techniques. In this situation, they speak much more indicatively of classic domestic violence. Making a connection to martial arts is a stretch.
* I have yet to see hard evidence that suggests martial artists are more prone to domestic violence, which would in-turn justify the inclusion of martial arts into this case.
You seem to have missed the specifics here in favor of singling out potential ‘wishful thinking’ scenarios. I definitely appreciate your input though, and I certainly see that some of my arguments are a bit based on assumption.
Matthew, I did not mean to nitpick any individual point in this post. It’s just that I didn’t want to write, “I disagree with the entire thing,” although I do!
Personally, I view any character-improvement approach that requires other people to change their behavior, as a poor solution. That includes the behavior of celebrities, especially.
I would expect those people who consider violence an effective communication tool, to gravitate towards martial arts and other violent or contact sports. Why wouldn’t they? You tell me.
That does not mean that martial arts corrupted these otherwise noble citizens, but it does suggest (statistically speaking) that martial artists are more likely to commit an act of domestic violence.
Hey Chris, I’m listening to ya!
Personally, I agree with you 100% – other people changing their behavior is indeed a poor substitute. It doesn’t change the reality of the situation though. Celebrity behavior affects young people and can create a ripple down effect.
Another reality is documented studies connecting a history of family violence to perpetuated violence throughout generations – http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/126/3/404 . Hence the inclusion of that information in this case’s coverage.
Something that hasn’t been documented or substantiated is that martial arts schools are filled with violence loving wife abusers. In fact, I would say that the majority of people are there for self defense and fitness. But again, we are both just making conjecture. My main point above was that they threw in martial arts without any sort of substantiation. Both of our ‘maybe sorta’ guesses isn’t enough to warrant the immediate connection between martial arts and domestic violence. That’s why I brought it into question.
News papers and media will do the best to attract attention to their news so whatever they write should be taken with a pinch of salt. Most people know very little about martial arts and that’s why they assume that is somebody did karate (or something) for 3 months in their life then, automatically, they will be proficient in using what they learned years before in any situation in their life… Punching, chocking and biting seems very basic to me, not really the technique that you would describe as best practice in any style of martial art. In any case a man that had any decent training in martial arts should know better than beating his girlfriend, while I can understand that somebody that throws out of the window the keys of your Lamborghini might be a bit _irritating_ Did they actually check if the guy was on drugs, drank or both: that could have been a much more basic reason for the pitiful ending of that night.
i think that rihanna shoud have never took chris brown keys and threw them out the windows!!!!and is chris brown gone go on with his singinig career..
could you please email me back asap cause i want to know and imma big fan of him!!!!my email is:lil_bae08@yahoo.com
[...] reportedly beating up his celebrity girlfriend, Rihanna, R&B singer Brown has become the newest target of the [...]
this whole situations is shocking, especially since Rihanna and Chris Brown seemed like such a perfect couple
In Regards to the martial arts comment. I think the point is more so that he was basically able to beat her ass with one hand wi=hile driving with the other. That’s where that training came into play.
They were parked.
Knowing martial arts and being a martial artist are two different things. And taking a karate class twice a week for 6 months means nothing..chris brown is a disgrace and does not deserve his name and martial arts in the same sentence.