Chris Brown says White America gives Jay Z a pass

Feb. 20, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Recording artists Beyonce and Jay-Z attend the game between the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Brooklyn rapper Jay Z was disapproving of Rihanna’s reconciliation with musician Chris Brown following their highly publicized domestic violence incident. Hov and Brown haven’t been on the same wavelength and have had a tense relationship ever since that incident. Now in an interview with Jet magazine, Brown addressed the tension and took some shots at Jay Z.

From XXL Magazine:

"“This is something I’ve been dealing with for the past maybe five years,” Brown tells Jet. ”Anybody with a voice – Tupac, Michael Jackson, the Notorious B.I.G. – gets formatted…except maybe for Jay Z, who is accepted by White America because he shakes hands and kisses babies. No disrespect, because I’m a fan, but nobody brings up the fact that he stabbed somebody and sold drugs. He gets a pass.”"

The incident Brown is referring to is a an accusation from 2000 that Jay Z stabbed a rival record executive, Lance Rivera, in a New York City nightclub. Brown’s point is that mainstream Americans have forgotten about that incident and forgiven him for it in a way that he hasn’t been since his arrest.

Americans can be quick to forgive the transgressions of one person’s past. Of course Chris Brown doesn’t do anything to rehabilitate his image and if anything seems to embrace the ‘bad guy’ image.

For instance this Vine video (NSFW language):

If anyone else posted this it’d be harmless fun, but given his record it’s questionable for him to post a video like this. Maybe if he learned from Jay Z and tried to rehabilitate his image by a variety of options from working with or donating to battered women shelters or “shaking hands and kissing babies” he too, would be forgiven.