Chris Brown Grammy Appearance Badly Received By Fans, Artists

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One brief, incredibly disturbing Twitter trend notwithstanding, there were seemingly a good many people who feel that whoever let Chris Brown get within 50 feet of Sunday night's Grammy Awards ceremony shouldn't be allowed to book talent for an infant's birthday party, let alone an awards show.

But alas, he did more than "show up." He performed a single from the new album Turn Up The Music. Brown was featured in a memorial dance salute to recently deceased long-time "Soul Train" creator, executive producer and host Don Cornelius. He accepted a Best R&B Album honor for F.A.M.E. - or Forgive All My Enemies, the latest in three years of Brown pulling a half-assed "everybody picks on me" routine because beating the hell out of Rihanna on the eve of Grammy Night three years ago surprisingly isn't something anybody reasonably forgets.

Then, as The Huffington Post noticed although he later deleted it, Brown had the audacity to tweet the world a message putting himself in the context of a term that should never, ever be applied to any man that would ever put a beating on a woman.

"People who make mistakes and learn from them are ROLE MODELS too," Brown actually mustered the balls to proclaim briefly. "I'm just happy to inspire growth and positivity."

That's not what Brown's appearance inspired. It tended to inspire doubt and disgust.

"Modern Family" star Eric Stonestreet remarked "Are Chris Brown's mom and dad CBS and Grammy Brown?"

That's what a man thought. How about singer-songwriter Michelle Branch?

"Trying not to go off on a rant but . . . Chris Brown . . . (bites tongue) have we forgiven him?" she tweeted.

And "The View" co-host Sherri Shepherd?

"Looks like all is forgiven with Chris Brown. That's all I'll say," she tweeted.

New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones wrote Monday that Brown taking the stage was "one of The Grammys' weirdest choices ever."

The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss admitted that people can be given second chances. However, "that doesn't mean they deserve a chance to strut around the Grammy stage a few years after being convicted of felony assault."

Give executive producer Ken Ehrlich a little credit: agree with his decision or not (SPOILER ALERT: I couldn't more emphatically disagree with it), I concede his heart was in a noble place. But in this instance, it was the wrong horse to back.

"I just believe people deserve a second chance," he said, defending his decision Monday on "CBS This Morning." "The year he had this year, really brought him back into the public. He really deserved a second chance."

See, that's where we disagree.

I tend to agree more with a remark by Newser.com staffer Sasha Pasulka that Brown being given showcase treatment in front of millions of men and, more importantly, women as a so-called "ROLE MODEL" sends a message that "The story is being covered as if it's 'an exiled prince's return to former glory,' when in fact it's actually 'an enormous f*** you' to every woman who has been, is, or will be on the receiving end of domestic violence."

That "ROLE MODEL" tweet? It threw Ehrlich's benefit of a doubt right back in his face. It proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the little asshole still doesn't get it. He's not a victim. The possibility his actions might have consequences that may linger longer than he can control was one he should've considered before he ever laid a hand on Rihanna. Sorry, Brown. You're not a "ROLE MODEL." You never should be, and you never will be. You've put up three years of bullshit posturing off and on that you were the one anybody should feel sorry for in all this.

Abusers don't deserve pity for being abusers. What they do leaves scars behind that time never completely erasers - scars for the abused, and scars for the loved ones.

There's a name people will throw back in my face for feeling this way: Michael Vick. "He's back in the NFL," people will say. "He made good his opportunity for redemption," others will add.

Yes, he did. But there are some huge differences.

First off, this was akin to Brown returning maybe not to the scene of the crime, but next door to it. It was on the eve of both artists performing at the Grammys that Brown went ballistic. There's impossible, uncomfortable symbolism there, especially since Rihanna also performed Sunday night on the Grammy stage.

Second, Vick has been something Brown hasn't: humble. Vick has not only acted grateful for a second chance he knows deep down that nobody was forced to give him. He's accepted that what he did was wrong, he's confessed ample regret and he's living with the consequence that he's legally barred from owning a dog. He's taken the media criticism and the numerous protests by animal rights groups in stride.

Even Vick would admit that his past deeds make him anything but a "ROLE MODEL," even if he's gained the respect of many for being more contrite than many of his peers have been in similar situations.

Brown? With that single tweet, that toothpaste that can't be shoved back into the tube, he acted like he's owed this. He's acted off and on for three years like he really can't understand why a moment like this didn't come sooner. Vick's response was akin to "Thank you. I appreciate it." Brown's was more like "What the f*** took you so long?" There's no way Brown should be acting like going three years without beating a woman is a praise-worthy feat.

In the words of Chris Rock, "What you want, a cookie?!"

No, he got something much more undeserved from Grammy producers: he was allowed to act like the night before the 2009 Grammys never happened. He got to act like this was something he was owed.