Joan Rivers: Too Far With Rihanna Joke?

The backlash from Rihanna’s interview with Oprah has been pretty impressive. Not surprising, since a lot of the singer and “Battleship” actress’ responses were a bit… unexpected.

In the interview Rihanna opens up very candidly about the feeling she still has for her ex, singer Chris Brown, who shocked the world by beating her bloody in 2009 over a text message.

“I still love him,” she admits.

Shortly after the interview, sharp-tongued comedienne Joan Rivers responded on her Twitter with this message:

“Rihanna confessed to Oprah Winfrey that she still loves Chris Brown. Idiot! Now it’s MY turn to slap her!”

Rihanna was originally thought to respond with a posting of a Proverb entitled “Control Your Speech.”

Now, however, the singer has responded directly, tweeting:

   “@Joan_Rivers wow u really do get slow when you’re old huh?’

Rivers’ comment has inspired an outraged Twitter response, berating the comedienne for joking about domestic violence.

I will agree, Rivers probably stepped over the line. She’s Joan Rivers, people. I don’t think she knows how else it’s done.

What bothers me specifically is how much flack Rivers is receiving for a comment that is riddled with exasperation over Rihanna’s making light of domestic abuse.

Rihanna, meanwhile, is being applauded for her interview, in which she says, ‘I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help, and who’s going to help him? Nobody’s going to say he needs help… everybody is going to say he’s a monster without looking at the source. I was more concerned about him.”

And while that’s lovely, and hopefully as a result of the incident Chris Brown got the help he needed, what about all the other girls out there who aren’t famous?

One Youtube comment praises her for, “being a role model for young girls who this have happen to or is happening to”

Really? Rihanna, who has before admitted that she was essentially pressured into breaking up with Brown after the encounter later reunited with him. Now she goes on Oprah to address her concern for his welfare, and to stress that she still loves and misses him.

What does this teach young women? It’s okay, if you really love him. He needs your help.

I’m certainly not condoning Rivers for what she said, but I’m surprised by how it’s playing out (although with all the disturbing Twitter trends defending Chris Brown, I don’t know why I haven’t given up at this point).

“People act like domestic violence is a joke when it’s not,” tweeted one Twitter user.

No, no one should joke about these things, but why is it okay to go on Oprah and brush it aside?

Maybe the joke was in bad taste—as is, frankly, pretty much everything Rivers does—but at the very least, I can understand the frustration behind it.