According to fellow rapper Kitty Pryde who came to the defense of Brown after a surprising turn of events at a recent show of theirs, the answer is yes.
Slapstick vulgarity tends to be a part of the package when it comes to the uniquely talented presentation of the eccentric Danny Brown, and that was no exception at a recent Minneapolis show, yet even Brown was left caught in the wild of what happened. Brown, who was performing in front of a dedicated crowd of fans, experienced an evidently overzealous young woman get on stage and pull down his pants in what’s been reported to have been a real matter of receiving unsolicited oral sex. Though there were still speculations it more simulated than actually happening once fans starting disclosing online, it was agreed that the rapper reacted (at first) mortified but continued rapping. The “I was there” moment even had Kendrick Lamar asking by a tweet, only perpetuating the curiosity of what occurred.
It all somewhat recalls the early ’90s scandal of when a member of 2 Live Crew did receive oral sex on stage and it was caught on camera. However, Kitty Pryde, his opening act, was not amused by how some treated Brown after the fact, and and how out of proportion the coverage got. She’s come to his defense, accusing the fan of sexual assault, and wrote an unabashed blog post explaining her reasoning and providing some insight:
Here’s another thing Danny wants. Like anyone else, Danny wants to be respected as an artist and a human. Like any other male, especially those in the public eye (and especially those who spend a lot of time talking about licking vaginas), he wants to be respected as a “man.” I’m only putting man in quotation marks because my ideal man is currently at home in NYC lighting cupcake-scented candles and taking bubble baths.
But we all know what happened last week at our show in Minneapolis, an event that we’re currently referring to in the bus as “The Thing,” because we all kind of want to forget about it. Ever since it happened the universal respect Danny commanded has splintered into two groups: one side thinking he’s way more awesome than they should, and the other thinking he’s an awful misogynist and hack. This bothers me a lot. Him too, but mostly me. I’m mad as hell, to be honest.
I’m mad that a person thought it was okay to pull another person’s pants down during their performance in front of about 700 other people. I’m mad that a person thought it was a good idea to perform a sex act on another person without their consent. I’m mad that nobody made her leave. I’m mad that Danny had to actually wonder what he was supposed to do at that point. I’m mad that when I went home and said I had no respect for that girl, I was attacked for being a “slut-shamer” (after literally leading a girl to his hotel room at 3AM at her request) and, even more outrageously, for being jealous of the girl who sucked his dick. I’m mad that when two dudes pulled my pants down onstage, other people got mad too, but when it happened to Danny the initial reaction was like one big high-five. I’m mad that people are treating “The Thing” like it’s some legendary event. I’m mad that even though they know exactly who the girl is, nobody in the media will even talk to her. I’m mad that I get a bunch of emails a day asking me to talk about my best friend’s “misogyny” and “classless behavior”, from people who have heard only rumors and seen only one very blurry and inconclusive iPhone photo.
It’s obvious that the reason nobody cares is because a girl did it to a boy. I said this on my blog, but I’ll say it again here—I had my pants ripped off onstage, and didn’t know what to do either because being naked in front of 1000 people is incredibly scary and there’s not much quick decision-making happening in your brain during that sort of thing. Now I’m prepared to kick a motherfucker in the teeth if he touches me at all, and I equip myself with giant boots for that reason. What is Danny supposed to do? The girl was at mouth-to-dick level already and to push her away, he would’ve had to either pushed her face or kicked her, and even the most gentle of either motion would immediately be labeled “abuse” by anyone watching. Guys pushing girls is not a good look when people are taking photos. So what was Danny supposed to do, other than back away, which he did? And if he had figured out a way to gently push the girl off him immediately without looking like he was smacking her in the face, he’s faced with attacks on his masculinity by every douchebro in the building. Yo dude, you don’t want your dick sucked, bro? Are you gay? Haha you’re gay you don’t want girls to suck your dick haha gay dude bro man swag! And that’s a rapper’s literal nightmare.
So now we all sit in this van and play videogames and check our Twitter mentions and don’t speak at all of “The Thing,” because it’s all we’re thinking about and it’s very lame. First of all, accusing me of being jealous is hilarious, because I’m like getting married and whatever. Also I have no qualms with sluts. I love sluts. I’d walk a slut walk if I liked my body enough. Also, does Minnesota really have that little going on that this is the biggest headline they have? The answer is yes, but even so, why doesn’t Ricky Smiley or whoever just talk to this girl? I know why. It’s because everyone wants the option of blaming it on Danny, because people can’t accept the fact that a white girl raped a black dude in front of a bunch of people.
Her letter could be viewed as an unforeseen aftermath as far as Pryde siding with Brown, and not because she’s a loyal friend of his, but because it’s rare to see a woman stand up for a man regarding sexual assault or abuse. A sad but true acknowledgment. As we’re all too familiar with, is it being the other way around, and while sexual assault towards men has mainly been given the comedic route in entertainment, it is (even if albeit a minor) reality. Some argued that if Brown was truly shocked, wouldn’t he had stopped the show? And it doesn’t help Brown’s case with his re-tweets of congratulatory shout-outs from both men and women to his Twitter timeline and a NSFW photo that’s floating around the Internet, yet like Pryde argued, what was he really supposed to do in light of pure bewilderment. Considering Rick Ross’ recent firing from Reebok because of sexually insensitive lyrics glorifying a nonchalance towards date rape, sex and hip-hop haven’t always had the most liberating, or healthy, acquaintances. Pryde also brought up some intelligent points of the issue of racial and gender politics as well, leaving room for larger discussions. Whatever you may feel once invested in this still-fuzzy details of a developing story, the Brown “incident”, alongside Pryde’s headstrong letter, is another example of when fan love and provocation goes wrong, or at least, very, very viral.
–C. Shardae Jobson (@lavishrebellion)
