BET pulls Chris Brown from Michael Jackson Tribute

At the party on Sunday morning while standing at the bar I noticed a large group of people moving downstairs from the front walkway area. Noticably leading the pack was Chris Brown. It had to be about 2am so the first thing that popped in my head was why would Chris be here this late if he has to open the BET awards.

Later that night I ran into Chris in the backyard near the pool and asked if he would take a picture and he refused. Not knowing what was happening I was a bit turned off by that. The next morning I woke up and found an email waiting saying that Reverend Al Sharpton had Chris pulled from the BET Awards as an opening act. It was leaked that Chris, among others were going to do a tribute to Michael Jackson given his recent passing.

I will say that when I originally heard the song 'Better on the other side' by Diddy, Boyz II Men, Game, Chris Brown, and Mario Winans I too had mixed feelings about mixing the energy surrounding Chris and the overwhelming mourning felt worldwide for Michael. It wasn't until I attended the awards and ran into Chris again at another party on Monday that I felt BET was wrong for pulling him. I have had mixed feelings on Chris since the Rihanna incident. Is it because of the violent act of domestic abuse? Was it because we haven't heard from Chris yet? Was it because I was following everyone else? I don't know the answer to that yet, but what I do know is that the awards clearly could have benefited from Chris' presence and performance. Chris Brown is undoubtedly a talented artist, possibly a future icon in his own right.

On Monday when we passed each other I asked him if I could talk to him for a second. Chris without any hesitance said yes. We talked very briefly about music and other industry things and I told him I wish he would have performed. Chris thanked me and was very humble. It wasin that moment that I felt the need to respect that whatever transpired between Chris and Rihanna should rest with them. It is not my place to judge Chris, nor is it my place to feel sorry for Rihanna. Talking to Chris was like talking to my little cousin, and I just hope that he can somehow regain the public respect that his talent had previously earned.

When does everyone stop hating Chris Brown? I think we should be disappointed in him, but hating him doesn't change what happened, and hating him to the point that he didn't give tribute to someone who would have probably wanted him to was not a good look for BET.

I must admit I did sneak pictures of Chris but I won't post them since he declined to take them. Oh well, maybe next time. Check out the video and tribute song below referenced in this article.