HOUSTON – February 17, 2012 – If you watched The Grammy Awards Sunday night, like many people, you probably found the show rather depressing and more than a bit disturbing. Notably, Whitney Houston was beautifully memorialized throughout the show by the likes of Alicia Keys, LL Cool J, Jennifer Hudson, and Rihanna.
Naturally, Houston’s tragic death cast a shadow over the evening's festivities. But even more disturbing than the sudden demise of this Grammy icon were the highly questionable performances of at least two performers who are still very much among us.
Chris Brown, convicted domestic abuser, performed to a captive audience. Awkwardly, his ex-girlfriend Rihanna (who Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting during a 2009 domestic violence scandal) also performed that evening.
His sketchy past and violent tendencies aside, Brown still didn't exactly embody the kind of guy you'd want your daughter going out with. He lisped to a crowd holding glowing pink batons, “Girl you're glistening, the way you look in the light. It’s obvious that I want something from you. You know what I wanna do … I can only imagine what it'd be like.”
Catchy melody? Yes. Creepy lyrics? Absolutely.
Lil Wayne joined in about halfway through the song (around the same time DJ David Guetta changed up the beat for the first time), looking rather comical in dreadlocks and gigantic yellow shoes. But at least he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Country star Miranda Lambert was vocal on Twitter about her disgust at Brown being allowed to perform at the Grammys, saying, “Chris Brown twice? I don’t get it. He beat on a girl … Not cool that we act like that didn’t happen. He needs to listen to Gunpowder and Lead and be put back in his place. Not at the Grammys.”
In a bizarre statement regarding the choice to include Brown in the show, Grammy Awards executive producer Ken Ehrlich revealed to ABC News Radio that he has apparently lost sight of who the true victim was in Brown's beating of Rihanna. "It may have taken us a while to kind of get over the fact that we were the victim of what happened,” Ehrlich said, speaking on behalf of the Grammy Awards. “We're glad to have him back.”
Brown retorted to the mass complaints about his appearance, tweeting, “Hate all you want becuz I got a Grammy now. That’s the ultimate F*** off!” His tweet has since been deleted.
Interestingly enough, Lil Wayne is represented by Young Money Entertainment. That’s the same establishment that manages Nicki Minaj, who topped the lunacy, carnality, and offensiveness of possibly any Grammy performance to date with her way over-the-top rendition of 'Roman Holiday.'
Nicki Minaj. Photo by Christopher Macsurak
Why so offensive? As Joey Guerra of The Houston Chronicle put it, the exhibition epitomized, “an eye-popping performance that was 'The Exorcist' by way of an amateur drag show.” It featured Minaj apparently portraying a licentious demon who’s possessing a little boy named Roman. In the production, Minaj incorporated mock re-enactments of several sacraments, and snippets from the Christian hymn, 'O Come All Ye Faithful,' in a derisive and sex-saturated context.
"Perhaps the most vulgar part was the sexual statement that showed a scantily clad female dancer stretching backwards while an altar boy knelt between her legs in prayer," Catholic League president Bill Donohue said in a statement on Monday.
Minaj expounded a bit on just who Roman might be in a recent interview with Capital FM. “If you're not familiar with Roman,” she said, “then you will be familiar with him very soon. He's a boy who lives inside of me, he's a lunatic, and he's gay...”
Donohue told FOXNews, “There are Catholic priests who are trained to perform exorcisms, and it seems plain that the time has come for Nicki Minaj to make an appointment. Even worse than Minaj is The Recording Academy that runs the Grammys: they knew exactly what she was going to do and gave her the green light. I've never heard of a collective exorcism, but there is a first time for everything.”
Perhaps more disturbing, is the fact that Minaj chose to use the torment and pain of a young boy as fodder for sexually explicit entertainment on live television. The lyrics of the song—whose performance began in a confessional booth and concluded with Minaj levitating, à la Regan in the original Exorcist—unfolded as insane gibberish, culminating with Roman screaming, “Leave me alone mother! I hate you!” As the tawdry spectacle climaxed, dancers dressed as priests and monks writhed around the diva amidst a backdrop of spewing, hellish flames.
Miranda Lambert was moved to wonder, “How dang long did they give Nicki Minaj to do whatever that was? Strange.”
In response to the mass criticism of her performance, Minaj tweeted, “Stay offended. Not a single F**K is given.”
No doubt, Minaj's PR agent is in need of a stiff drink.
About Jennifer Grassman:
Singer, songwriter and pianist, Jennifer Grassman is an award-winning recording artist based in Houston, Texas. Subscribe by RSS feed and read more from Jennifer at www.JenniferGrassman.com. You can follow Jennifer on @Jgrassman or Facebook.com/JenniferGrassmanMusic
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