I know we are beating a dead horse with this whole Chris Brown/Rihanna debacle, but now we have the kids involved. And don’t think just because they are kids they aren’t aware of Chris Brown using Rihanna as a punching bag, because they are. Kids are savvy these days, just because YOU don’t let your child watch television, listen to the radio, surf the internet or partake in modern culture, doesn’t mean their friends aren’t.
I can’t tell you the number of times my tween comes home and asks me some kind of shockingly forward question about current events, which I KNOW she didn’t find out about at home — it’s everywhere. But that doesn’t mean we as parents have zero responsibility in setting a better example for our children.
So instead of keeping the violent altercation between these two popular young adults relegated to the adult population, our kids are being forced to participate in the madness. Who’s to blame? Nickelodeon of course! The HUGELY popular kid’s channel, Nickelodeon (you know the one with “Spongebob Squarepants”, “Dora the Explorer” and “Wonderpets”), owned by Viacom (MTV, Vh1) puts on an annual awards show, aptly called the Kid’s Choice Awards. The channel encourages their young viewers to participate in the selection process by picking their favorite movies, actors, songs, artists, TV shows, etc.
Not unlike the Oscars or the Grammys, but for the children. Hosting duties are a big deal and many major stars have gotten the choice spot over the years, including Justin Timberlake, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz and this year’s host, Dwayne “Do You Smell What The Rock Is Cookin’” Johnson. The hosting duties tend to correspond with a movie the host promoting, in this case, Johnson is starring in a Disney remake, Race To Witch Mountain. Ultimately, it’s all about marketing and making money.
Which may explain why Nickelodeon has continued to support Chris Brown and Rihanna, who are both up for two awards, favorite male and female singer respectively, and favorite song. Seriously poor choice on their part. It wasn’t bad enough that the Grammy’s were blighted by the now infamous beatdown, but over the last four weeks, we’ve been forced to endure some of the lamest PR decisions Britney hired Sam Lufti.
Chris Brown refuses to issue a real apology and atone for his crimes (in fact he and his team are doing their best to avoid any punishment at all), and then to really add insult to injury (pun intended) Rihanna lets everyone down by allowing this abusive, violent man off the hook, but getting back together with him and refusing to press charges.
In what way does Nickelodeon think that these two are positive examples for today’s youth. In the past, we’ve covered the Kid’s Choice Awards and really enjoyed watching the show with my own children. Not this year. No way, no how. I encourage any of you with kids out there to boycott the show unless they remove these two idiots from their nominees list. This is a democratic society, we need to use our voices to let the powers that be know we do NOT condone violence against women.
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