Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

So, have you seen the youtube video of Chris Brown apologizing for beating down his then-girlfriend Rihanna in February? I think this video "apology" pisses me off nearly as much as "the incident" as he calls it. What is wrong with the video? Let me count the ways.

1. I don't think he means it.
He "acts" sincere. While the body language is right, the words are just...okay. Sorry, regret, accept responsibility, let people down, yada yada. He's saying the right things. Why don't I believe him? Maybe its because I can't forget that he's party-hopped and cavorted around with a Rihanna look alike for the past six months. He hasn't been laying low like someone who was, say, EMBARRASSED AND ASHAMED of his actions would do. The actions and the words do not match up here, and it is a little disturbing.

2. What took ya so long?
It took him 6 freaking months to publicly apologize. I mean, did he just not think it needed to be said until now? He uses the ol' "my lawyer told me to shut it" excuse, but in the next breath says he's glad to finally "accept responsibility." Say what?

3. No responsibility has been accepted here.
He pleaded NOT GUILTY. Now, I know this is legal stuff here, that if he had pleaded guilty it probably would have been a straight shot to jail time, etc. SO??? He committed a crime. There is a penalty in our society for that. If you want to take responsibility, then you SHOULD do the time. PERIOD. Accepting responsibility also means accepting the consequences to your actions. He has not done that here.

4. He still manages to blame Rihanna.
He talks about wishing he could have handled the situation better, or something to that effect. Not wishing he could have controlled his temper, wishing he had made a better choice, no-he still insinuates that there was a "situation" that CAUSED him to react. Again, not taking responsibility for HIS action and HIS action alone. He still doesn't seem to understand the magnitude of what he did wrong.

5. He still wants to be a role model.
Excuse me? Ok, if this doesn't scream "I'm just trying to save my career" I don't know what does. Instead of saying he's going to take time to work on himself, do all this community service he's been court-ordered to do, he's basically finishing up with code for "I got a new record coming out so I need yall to trust me again so the little girls can buy my record." If he wanted to be a REAL role model, I can think of many ways to go about it. He could be donating money to domestic violence shelters, working on public service announcements, volunteering for women's causes. Nope. This guy is looking out for number 1. He's not going to jail. He's going to avoid associating himself with the issue as much as he can. If he made a mistake, which is never going to happen again, then he should have taken the punishment, come out a changed man, and made this his cause. To talk with other young men about how it happened, and how to make better decisions. Being a role model is not about being perfect-it is about learning from your mistakes and becoming a better person because of them. I don't see how he's really done either here. He's not been accountable-all he has learned is that if you have enough money and good lawyers you can break the law and get away with it. He's not shown how he's trying to become better-just this flimsy attempt at "I'm sorry about that incident I can't talk about which I'm ashamed of and want to take responsibility for except still blame my girlfriend and not get punished for it."

Maybe I'm just super cynical here....but I don't think he has learned a thing except how to hire a criminal defense lawyer. SIGH.

http://www.celebitchy.com/61243/chris_brown_releases_video_apology_what_i_did_was_inexcusable/