Cyber Furor Over Chris Brown's Appearance at Grammys

Chris Browns appearance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night three years after he assaulted his former girlfriend Rihanna has created a debate on the Internet.

It started on Sunday night when several musicians and music critics assailed the shows organizers for allowing Mr. Brown to perform. Miranda Lambert, the country star, sent a Twitter message during the show, saying He beat on a girlnot cool that we act like that didnt happen. (She also suggested that Mr. Brown listen to her song Gunpowder and Lead, which talks about the need to avenge domestic violence, and she said that he should be be put back in his place.)

Others echoed her sentiment. The New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones called Mr. Browns appearance one of the Grammys weirdest choices ever. And Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic wrote: I dont look for the Grammys for moral clarity, but, really? Do the words felony assault mean anything at all?

Then Mr. Brown shot back on Tuesday night in a series of Twitter comments on Tuesday night, which have since been deleted. According to New Music Express and MTV.com, Mr. Brown wrote a string of messages saying: Strange how we pick and choose who to hate! Let me ask u this. Our society is full of rappers (which I listen to) who have sold drugs (poisoning). But yet we glorify them and imitate everything they do. Then right before the worlds eyes a man shows how he can make a Big mistake and learn from it, but still has to deal with day to day hatred! You guys love to hate!!! But guess what??? HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY Now! He ended the rant with an expletive.

Those comments drew fire from several music bloggers. Laura Snapes of the New Music Express said Mr. Brown may have owned up to making a mistake, but remarks like these hardly demonstrate that he has learned from it and added whats equally as perni! cious as Browns lack of remorse is the way that the culture industry at large has decided to gloss over what he did. Marlow Stern at the Daily Beast made a similar point.

By Wednesday morning someone had started an RIP Chris Brown movement on Twitter, which became one of the social media sites trending topics. Mr. Browns fans were infuriated.

Mr. Brown, who is still on probation for the assault conviction, played an unusually prominent role in Sundays awards ceremony, winning for best R&B album for F.A.M.E., performing a big song-and-dance number early in the show and taking part in a later segment about electronic dance music.

Just before the 2009 Grammys Mr. Brown assaulted Rihanna in a car outside pre-Grammy party. The police said he punched her, put her in a headlock and nearly choked her. He later pleaded guilty to a count of felony assault and was sentenced to five years probation. The conviction nearly derailed his career, as sales of his albums plummeted, but he made a comeback with the F.A.M.E. album last year, and now has a Grammy to show for it.

On Monday morning Neil Portnow, the president of the Recording Academy, which gives out the Grammys, defended the decision to let Mr. Brown perform on the grounds that he had made a good record. Clearly, our voting membership rated highly Chriss musical work this past year, Mr Portnow told The Associated Press. He added, If were going to get into trying to personally evaluate artists in terms of their personal lives, thats a slippery slope that we wouldnt want to get into. The same day on CBS This Morning, Ken Ehrlich, the longtime producer of the awards show, said: I just believe people deserve a second chance.