Rihanna's 'Man Down' video lands gunslinging singer, BET in hot water with advocacy groups
Rihanna has found herself in the center of controversy again over one of her music videos.
Before premiering the video to her latest single, the reggae-tinged revenge ode “Man Down,” on BET's "106 & Park" on Tuesday, the singer took to Twitter to say it would have a "very strong underlying message 4 girls like me."
It’s that message -- which shows her killing a man who's assaulted her -- that has drawn the ire of a collective of advocacy groups that work, in part, to combat violent imagery in media.
The Parents Television Council, along with Industry Ears and the Enough Is Enough Campaign, joined together to “condemn” the video and urge Viacom, BET's parent company, to pull it off the air.
In a statement, Paul Porter, co-founder of Industry Ears and a former music programmer for BET, described "Man Down" as "an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song. In my 30 years of viewing BET, I have never witnessed such a cold, calculated execution of murder in primetime. Viacom’s standards and practices department has reached another new low.” The statement continued: “If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass and BET should know better. The video is far from broadcast-worthy.”
Although the video easily conjures a rather gruesome narrative of revenge, and quick speculation that it was inspired by Brown's assault on Rihanna, the council specifically blasted BET after it premiered the clip.
“ ‘Man Down’ is a clear violation of BET’s own programming guidelines shared with the public by Debra Lee, the chairman and CEO of BET Networks. I join with the Parents Television Council and Industry Ears in calling on Viacom executives to immediately pull the video from programs that are targeted to youth and teenagers,” said Pastor Delman Coates, founder of the Enough Is Enough Campaign.
BET previously banned Kanye West’s “Monster,” Ciara’s “Ride” and Teairra Mari’s “Sponsor.”
Despite Rihanna's clip for “S&M” getting the ax in 11 countries, BET didn’t cut it -- though Lee said in a recent interview that the network was “working” with the singer on her videos.
Though Rihanna didn't address the fallout, she thanked fans for "getting" the video.
"Young girls/women all over the world...we are a lot of things! We're strong innocent fun flirtatious vulnerable, and sometimes our innocence can cause us to be naïve! We always think it could NEVER be us, but in reality, it can happen to ANY of us! So ladies be careful and #listentoyomama! I love you and I care!," she wrote.
Watch the video below and tell us what you think:
-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
Twitter.com / gerrickkennedy
Photo: Screenshot from Rihanna's "Man Down" video.
Rihanna's man down video is a good song . Bad video ? yes i agree , but everyone can promote sex , drugs , shootings , but rihanna makes a song that teenage girls can relate to , they say no . NO Rihanna has not lost her mind , if you dont want your kids watching the video DONT LET THEM! Its as easy as that , there is nothing wrong with rihanna's video . If chris brown made a video like that it would be wrong cause Boys are less likely to get raped than girls , EVERYDAY a girl is getting rapped ! What has society come to. Music is music , if teengaers like the song keep it. The adults dont have to listen to it, the song was made to get promoted . It made it that far , leave it be , if people like the song then O WELL ! LET IT GO ! everything that happened between chris brown & rihanna IS OVER ! this is the present , NOT THE PAST . ! LET IT GO !
Posted by: chelsae | June 10, 2011 at 08:06 AM
Im 15 , i understand the message. Just because i watched the video doesn't mean im going to go out an kill a man who rapes me , NO . the message was that " THINK BEFORE YOU DO" Clearly Rihanna wanted to give the messages that killing someone is not the way to go . I can see that she is saying VIOLENCE IS NOT THE WAY TO GO ! BET can play songs that call girls out there name , Sex, Drugs ... ect. But Rihanna cant write a song about something true in life . THAT'S STUPID ! I know tons of people that walk up & down the hallways singing her song , & im one of them. If your a parent and you fear that your child is going to go kill someone because of what another person did to them .... well then ITS YOU not Rihanna's fault . YOUR the bad influence , you shouldn't have to worry about things like that ,. JUST SAYING ! I know my opinion probably wont matter but i think i know what im talking about !
Posted by: Chelsie | June 10, 2011 at 08:18 AM
Agree completely with Helen and Shay below!
I think it all depends on what role you think a music video should play. If you think it's just a 4 minute commercial where the singer looks pretty and tries to get you to buy the song, then yes, this is inappropriate.
But if you think music and film are forms of art--and you respect the musician as an artist, i.e. as more than a product, then these 4 minutes are a way for the singer to truly express herself, something she might not get to do too often while out on promotional tours, smiling tirelessly on the red carpet etc.
And let's not forget the people directing and producing the video. 4 minutes of cinematography is enough to create art; the length of a film has no bearing to its level of artistry. (I mean, think about the inverse: there are so many crappy storyless movies out there today that are merely meant to sketch out a particular lifestyle in order to sell the products placed within...SATC, anyone?)
This video is beautiful! First of all, it depicts a different way of life and reminds us that cultural diversity is what begat the diversity we hear in music. For ignorant Americans like me, the backdrop of Jamaica evokes a hazy dream-like state, a realer-than-life fantasy of bare, glistening skin and passion acted upon in the heat and humidity (why hipster yuppies like movies like Cidade de Deus, etc.).
Paralleling that, the video creates an empowering fantasy for the girl in sanitized, rigorous New England, for example, who despite all the rules and parent-approved orderliness, has become the victim of a violent sexual assault, can't tell anyone about it, and can only escape in her imagination.
Posted by: sk | June 10, 2011 at 06:05 PM
So...lemme get this straight:
We can advocate violence amongst men/women and towards women on tv; We can show compromised women depicted in shockingly sexualized situations; We can exploit women for men's gain and portray them consistently as sex objects and dismiss the fact that women are routinely devalued; We can tolerate referring to our women derogatively and even celebrate this subjugation and sadness...yet we cannot tolerate one woman's portrayal of revenge upon her assailant USING THE SAME MEDIUM to express herself (via music/entertainment). Please, BET, and everyone who is shocked by this video. WAKE UP.
Men (and women: all of us) in this nation and beyond need to not be so afraid to talk about rape and encourage females to express their feelings through a safe medium (like music). READ THE STATISTICS. It is underreported out of fear and shame. Let's not perpetuate our sisters and our mothers' voices and souls being swept under the rug. What year is this???
Posted by: ghostlife | June 12, 2011 at 02:54 AM
I think that instead of focusing on the actual rape, women need to focus on the lessons they can learn from the video. For example, not going to and leaving from an event alone.
If young women look at the video and see, in a sense, "what not to do," than we can reduce the number of rapes.
Stop looking at the negative and look at the lessons.
-Stacy
boysbeautybeyond.blogspot.com
Posted by: Stacy Reed | June 13, 2011 at 05:12 PM
In Maroon 5's video for "Wake up call" there is a simillar story:
"Six foot tall
Came without a warning so I had to shoot him dead
He won't come around here anymore
Come around here?
I don’t feel so bad, I don’t feel so bad, I don’t feel so bad"
What about that? What's the difference?
Posted by: Ro | June 18, 2011 at 10:02 PM