Leave her alone

I don't get fired up often, unless I'm drunk... or haven't drank in a while, but one thing that pisses me off is when people get picked on; especially women. That's why when I read about all the backlash from the VMAs and Britney Speares' performance, I got irate. First off, the VMAs, in my opinion, were much better than previous years. I saw more live performances, mixes of artists, and even debauchery than the past five years combined. I don't even like MTV or the VMAs. In fact, I hate them. But I was forced to watch by my roommate who scared me by scouring the internet for everything mentioned, even a visible phrase on a rapper's t-shirt. And you know what, it wasn't bad. Even Timberlake had the balls to call out MTV on something I've been harping about for a long, long time - a lack of music. But the next day, while I'm checking the world news, I happen on articles, blogs, and every other kind of crap written about how the VMAs sucked and Britney's performance was the "death knell" for the VMAs. Flabby, awkward, drugged out. Maybe so. Yeah, I admit she could have done better. In fact, I would have advised her not to jump back into the circus so early, but she did and it was bad. But when I have to watch someone on E talk about how lame her excuses were and how her career is over, I turn red with rage. How many times do we have to remind ourselves that celebrities are people; people with the same problems as us. In fact, I would venture to say that being rich and famous only makes these problems much worse. I drink. A lot. It's bad enough to have to hear comments about it or even have to talk about it with my close friends, let alone have to watch someone spitting in my face on TV, in magazines, and the internet. Let's face it everyone in the business seems to want to tear Britney down. I never liked her music because, well.... I'm a guy, but when someone shaves their head and goes to rehab, I feel bad for them. It's a serious problem which should be taken seriously. And I understand that the people lauding all her mistakes have to, at least to some extent, because that's their business and it's very competitive but if you were fresh out of rehab, would you really be excited about going to Las Vegas to perform in front of the world. I know I wouldn't even get on the plane. What she did took balls. Yeah, balls. Maybe it was a gamble. In fact, it certainly was, but its harder to do and more courageous than standing with your hands in your pockets making smug comments about the weight of a mother of two to a laughing audience. Which brings me to Sarah Silverman - awful. Seriously. As a professional comedian in a room full of celebrities, don't you think that picking out Spears is just a tad too easy? Pete could have done the same thing and he's not funny at all. Not in the least. So I stand with Britney. People make mistakes but how those mistakes are handled is what makes them who they are. It's a cliche, but it's true. Not to mention, she only went to rehab. For celebrities, that's pretty common. Maybe the shaved head thing was a little freaky, but hey, I'm an artist and sometimes we do weird shit to ouselves as some form of expression. Not that we should dismiss her but there's a difference between holding someone accountable and ostracizing them, then having the gall to tell them that their career is over. She didn't even get arrested for anything! I think it's because people are jealous. The business watches as a girl turns into bombshell with hit singles (this is before american idol or other modern teen pop stars, who by the way have hit rehab/jail way quicker than Spears), what's the only thing that can happen next? Green eyed jealousy. It's fun to watch stars rise but it's much more satisfying to watch them plummet in a ball of fiery disgrace and then turn around to the rest of the band wagon and say, "see I knew it would happen." Yeah, lady, the odds were against you on a prediction like that; your intuitive vision amazes me... I'm proud of the fact that it took a loser ex-husband, two kids, thousands of nay sayers and a mental melt down for someone to finally succumb... for a while. Hell, look at Robert Downey Jr.! So fuck off, fashion reporters and celebrity gossip mongers. The only people I look down on are you.