When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: Cyber Punks
by asktheprgirl
I’m new to Twitter. I seriously just signed up this year because I’m a Facebook junkie. I’ve been on Facebook since Facebook was The Face Book (or something like that). I declined Twitter sign-up for years because I just didn’t see the point AND who has the time?! I’m already managing one social network platform that monopolizes about 20% (or more) of my day. Adding another would literally bring nothing but bad to my world. Like loss of income or depriving my kid of snack time. I simply didn’t think I had the bandwidth to add one more thing to my day.
BUT, my husband and friends all use the platform. They swore that it was the coolest thing. You get access to some of your favorite people, fan updates, cool bloggers and more. It’s like “instant messaging with the stars,” one friend said. So, I signed up. I made the leap. Hell, telling me that I could send Lance Gross (@LanceGross) or Michael Ealy (@MichaelEaly) a personal, “Good Morning” and they just might respond is enough to make me do anything. And, I love the HILARIOUS commentary that happens between my friends. I mean pure comedy is coming from my boy @TheofletcherII. Follow him. Even if you don’t know him. You’re bound to laugh as much as I do at his wildly inappropriate (not mean spirited), sometimes inspiring and but OH SO good tweets.
While I’ve enjoyed Twitter, I’ve also witnessed its dark side. It seems that people are willing to say the most ridiculous, insane, hurtful, disrespectful, fight-worthy things. Just yesterday my absolute favorite stylist to follow Shun Melson (@ShunMelson) tweeted, “KIDLESS tonight! Gonna open a bottle of @kimzolciak VIVA moscato!” along with a picture of the her fave libation. Cute right? Pretty normal tweet, right? Nothing out of the ordinary especially since Kim Zolciak is her client and very good friend. Well … some chick (note: I’ll say chick though I want to say b*tch, however I reserve the use of that word for when I’m face to face with a b*tch. I ain’t no punk, ya heard me) replies, “Damn Kim must actually pay you as much as you up her azz … j/k.” Now, that’s that sh*t I don’t like. Who’s talking to you, lil girl?! You following Shun on HER page and gone respond with some useless hater fooleywang like that. Shun making her money, honey. She not worried about what some chick with 16 followers has to say about her on Twitter, but it still irritated me. How worthless is your life that you feel the need to pop off like that at someone you don’t know?! What’s even the point of being negative toward someone that has never been disrespectful to you?
The case that has me most on edge and outraged is the Chris Brown / Jenny Johnson EPIC twitter battle. If you haven’t heard about it, you MUST live under a rock. Do better, ok? There’s an app for that, but I digress. To sum it up:
- CB tweeted something about looking old for 23
- JJ responded that’s what happens when you’re a “worthless piece of sh*t”
- CB responded with something about taking teeth out, sucking penis and called her a “hoe”
- JJ replied “it’s ho, you ignorant sh*t”
- CB said something about defecation and flatulence
- JJ replied something about his mother being proud
The battle ended with CB shutting down his Twitter page and JJ declaring hollow victory over the coward she “confronted”. She even began to receive death threats from Team Breezy (i.e. Chris Brown fans). She took to Twitter saying how disturbing it is for people to embrace a woman beater and IMMEDIATELY began to play the victim role.
Now … I have a problem with the entire exchange. Here are my issues with both participants in this stupid situation:
- Jenny Johnson is incredibly disrespectful and immature to attack someone using Twitter. Everyone knows she’d never say those cruel things to his face. She feels real big and bold behind a keyboard somewhere in a gated community and THAT is cowardly. You don’t have to like Chris Brown or respect him given his past indiscretion; BUT you don’t get to attack him and then stand on a soapbox to say you abhor people who attack. That’s ridiculous and it’s violent. Words just as easily incite violence as physical blows. She’s a hypocrite. You want to advocate for the end of domestic violence like an adult then volunteer at a shelter for abused women. Donate money to a DV cause. Don’t haphazardly attack folks online and call it comedy to hide how hideous your actions are. She’s a bully and there is NOTHING that cooks my grits more than a bully. Also, I vehemently disagree with people sending her death threats and find that behavior BEYOND reprehensible, but what does one expect when you invite that energy into your life? *pause for deep thought and reflection*
- Chris Brown is an idiot. Pure and simple. He’s 23. He responded the way a 23-year-old does except he seems to forget that he’s a multi-millionaire with MILLIONS of young impressionable fans that would follow him to the ends of the earth. He needs to grow up and learn better conflict resolution skills. Is this because his father wasn’t in the home?! Does the boy not have ANYBODY around that can help him channel all of this ridiculous aggression?? And WHY IN THE HELL does he feel the need to respond to someone who doesn’t sign his checks?!?! Can someone PLEASE direct Chris Brown to have SEVERAL seats? Remind him that if he wants to keep the career that God restored after his EPIC life failure in 2009, then he must do better. Stop throwing chairs after interviews at Good Morning America. Stop acting like a brat every time someone says something you don’t like. GROW UP! You’re a public figure. People will be harsh about EVERYTHING you do from this point on because you’re an easy target and YOU opened that negative door in 2009. As Iyanla Vanzant (@IyanlaVanzant) would say, “Boo. Let’s take responsibility for our actions. Let’s put your big boy underwear on and face the situation YOU created.” You will never be able to move past it. You will die one day, hopefully a great performer with a long career, and the media will say, “Chris Brown. Amazing talent. Some even likened him to Michael Jackson. Known for his 2009 domestic attack on former pop sensation, Rihanna.” It is what it is. Man up and learn to deal so that you can keep your career because now you’ve tatted yourself up to the point that your only career option is fast food if this music thing doesn’t pan out. #IJS
Lastly, Elizabeth Hasselbeck (@ehasselbeck) of ABC’s The View (@theviewtv) called Chris Brown’s response, “Verbal rape.” If you didn’t see The View commentary, check it out here. That infuriated me. Why? Because people who misuse the term “rape” have obviously never experienced it. Well I have and it makes me damn mad that she would be so cavalier with that word in her desire to express how displeased she is with Chris Brown. Was he stupid and disrespectful? Yes. This was no “verbal rape”, Mrs. Hasselbeck. It was an immature, cowardly verbal exchange. It was two people who obviously have issues with decency and respect. It was a two-way exchange of which both are responsible. Don’t misuse the word rape. You have a platform from which millions of women gather to consume your thoughts. You should be more responsible to them and more respectful of the platform. You know better.
People listen to me. Twitter and other social platforms are cool pastimes. They offer very exhilarating connections to celebrities and a host of other interesting things in life; however, just like in life, you have a responsibility to conduct yourself with respect. You also have a responsibility to respect others as well. A little confrontation keeps the blood alive so having a difference of opinion, respectfully, with someone over social media is okay; but using the platform to have “thug thumbs” as Big Boi (@BigBoi) so elegantly coined yesterday afternoon on Atlanta’s V103 (@V103Atlanta) is wrong. Don’t say things online you would NEVER say in person. Hell, don’t be mean in person either. Just … don’t use these social mediums to attack or bully other people. It’s wrong!! Let’s end this punk fooleywang now, shall we? Before a really ugly sea change like cyber bullying ending in suicide or murder becomes the norm. Now … THAT’S that sh*t I won’t like.
Be better, people … to yourself and one another.
XO, AskThePRGirl
I agree with you about both parties – very immature. Chris Brown (& Lindsay Lohan for that matter) needs to realize that he must always turn the other cheek… the reprehensible act which was done to Rhianna has permanently revoked his “anger” card; HOWEVER, Miss Jenny Johnson has systematically “stalked” and cyber-bullied Chris Brown for the last two years with the most foul comments. Chris Brown even blocked her, but somehow she found a way to get around the block and even had her friends come after him. What does one do when the Block button fails to work and after two years of the same “ish” from one person hits that button… he went off. She went off & got exactly what she wanted – a twitter war w a celebrity, follow up press on shows like the View and more followers. Using the phrase “verbal rape”… hmmm… when one is raped, it means that force was used, someone’s choice was taken away, only one participant… this 2 yr stalking by Miss Johnson and the subsequent exchange she had with Chris Brown (b/c she had every option NOT to reply back to her first “you’re a shit bag” tweet) was not a “verbal rape” but one where she willingly participated. I am by no means defending Chris Brown… he needs to grow up and grow up fast, b/c this behavior of constantly getting in trouble is going to bite him in the proverbial ass and I don’t know if the climb back to the top will be so easy.
Thanks for letting me rant
First, thank you SO much for taking the time to read my little blog. Second, I agree with EVERYTHING you’ve said. As a comedian, I’m sure you’re aware of the line that’s crossed between funny and mean-spirited. I have a problem with the fact that she won’t stand up to the energy that her post created and instead would focus on Chris Brown’s actions. Also, I’m not a violent person, but you call me a “worthless piece of shit” and I might not react in the most mature fashion. I also am not defending CB, I just think that his past reprehensible behavior doesn’t somehow eliminate his human reaction to disrespect.
You can rant on my blog ANYTIME!! Please keep coming back. I love you, your work and so value the time you took to share with me.
All the best, AskThePRGirl
Jenny Johnson issues a formal statement explaining her actions via GQ:
This is not an apology. I just want to clear some things up. My first thought following my Twitter exchange with Chris Brown on Sunday was to ignore it until it went away. The exchange I’m referencing would be the one where he tweeted he looked old for 23, and I replied with a not-so-kind comment. From there we discussed farts, spelling, past events, bushpigs, and the part of my eye which he wanted to go number two on. It ended with him deactivating his Twitter account.
I assumed a couple of days would pass and other things would happen and our little spat would be yesterday’s news. Halle Berry’s baby daddy and current fiancee get in a fistfight, Lindsay Lohan gets arrested, and Kate Middleton gets bangs: perfect. But it’s still kind of there. I didn’t expect my name to be in entertainment news, but it is, and it is because I started it.
I won’t say I regret what I did, but I will say I have learned from it. I chose to turn a lazy Sunday watching football with my husband into a total shitstorm. I never thought I’d see the chicks on The View attempt to break down our interaction on Twitter (if they only knew how little thought and effort go into anything I tweet, there is literally nothing to break down). I didn’t think I would be invited to be a guest on their show or any other TV or radio program. I didn’t think Celebuzz would post an “exclusive interview” that I never gave. What they did was post bits and pieces from previous print and podcast interviews I did a year ago, made other shit up and called it an “exclusive interview”.
I didn’t want attention from all of this. If I wanted attention, I would have accepted all of the invitations to be on shows and to actually give exclusive interviews, but I declined all of them. I didn’t think the thousands of (misspelled) death threats I got would have people thinking I saw myself as a victim, because I am NOT a victim of anything, nor have I ever thought I was (excluding the time I paid to see The Village). I’ve had people assume I dislike Chris Brown because I’m taking up for Rihanna, I’m not. I’m on the side of good, of equality and respect for my fellow woman. I was raised to not respect a person who doesn’t respect others. And one human being physically harming another human being is one of the most disrespectful acts there is. I have never been a victim of domestic abuse, nor was I raised in a house where there was abuse. I do however, know people who have been victims of abuse by a so-called “loved one” and I’ve seen the long term damage it does.
That said, my Twitter account is meant to be funny. While there are truths behind a lot of the things I write, in no way, shape or form are they meant to be seen as anything other than the words of a comedy writer, in 140 characters or less. I started it on Sunday and it was certainly not my finest hour, but here we are. By next week Miley Cyrus will marry a shoe, Justin Bieber will meet the Pope wearing a wetsuit, Kim Kardashian will announce she’s pregnant with a sea turtle, and everyone will move on. Even though I promised myself I would remain quiet on this subject, I just felt the need to clear the air on these certain topics.
Don’t worry Team Breezy, your hero is still on Instagram under the handle FuckYoPictures. #Classy
She still hasn’t stated why she has chosen to go after Chris Brown for the last two years… surely every foul typed (and not funny) tweet wasn’t during a lazy Sunday. She chose to hit the follow button for Chris Brown and react to every one of his tweets w “not so kind” ones of her own. Jenny Johnson needs to get a life instead of obsessively following those she dislikes. I will never understand why one would want to follow someone that irritates the hell out of them… so unhealthy and so many other better things to do w one’s life. Take Care. Love your blog posts!
Agreed. She still isn’t taking responsibility which is so incredibly sad. I read her statement more than a few times looking for anything that even looks like shame over her behavior, but all I saw was justification for her actions. She seriously needs to get a life … and grow up.
PLEASE keep coming back to my blog. It’s an extreme honor to chat with you. I appreciate your attention to the random thoughts in my head. 🙂
Hi AskthePRgirl, finally got an opportunity to read last week’s offering…it is good as always. I agree with all of the comments added. When a person goes through extreme matters like getting around a twitter block to continue to badger and bully….WTH? I mean if you don’t like him, stay away from him and his. Maybe she felt like she needed in some manner to make him pay for his past sins…but that’s not your job boo…and you don’t actually have a heaven or hell to cast him to…so, the entire situation is reDICulous and time for growth from both parties. Can’t wait for this week’s insights. Anise M.
I leave a comment whenever I like a post on a blog or
I have something to contribute to the discussion.
It’s caused by the passion communicated in the article I read. And after this post. I was actually moved enough to drop a thought 😛 I do have a few questions for you if it’s allright.
Is it just me or does it appear like a few of these responses come across like they are written by brain dead
folks? 😛 And, if you are writing at additional places, I’d like to follow everything new you have to post. Would you list every one of all your public pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
Hi Pam! Thx for posting, girl! You can follow me on Twitter at @AskThePRGirl!
I write from the heart about issues I just feel are not receiving common sense treatment. Where has common sense gone in this world?!
Keep coming back and visiting me! I LOVE a good girl chat 🙂
All the best, AskThePRGirl 🙂