Lately, the media has exploded with the #MeToo movement and has made sure that every predator sees due justice. At least, that’s what we want to believe is happening. Powerful men such as Larry Nassar, Harvey Weinstein, and Bill Cosby are realizing that what happens in the dark will always find a way to shine. We all rally behind taking these men down from their perched thrones and we find ourselves believing that we are actually wiping out an issue that has plagued women for so long. Then why do we continue to patronize publicly known sexual predators, pedophiles, and abusive men?
Take a moment to look at pop culture right now. A month ago, the rapper XXXTentacion became the victim of gun violence and social media was flooded with statements about the devastating loss of an invaluable person. Invaluable? XXXTentacion had a violent history clouded with robbery, battery, and prisons. He was charged with aggravated battery of his pregnant girlfriend who spoke out on the harrowing details of the abuse from how he stomped all over her, beat her with plastic hangers, and attempted to drown her in a bathtub to beating her up during her pregnancy and threatening to kill her and the unborn child and cut off her tongue. During his time in prison, XXXTentacion beat up a homosexual man for looking at him in the wrong way and gruesomely described the event in fascination during a later interview. He’s been charged with witness tampering, domestic abuse, and robbery. How could anyone so ruthless be celebrated by millions of people across our nation?
Another rising figure in today’s pop culture is Tekashi 6ix9ine, who had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old as well as a 13-year-old, making him a pedophile. He was also accused of strangling a 16-year-old, yet his music career has continued to skyrocket and found support in many A-listers such as Nicki Minaj. Michael Jackson was a known pedophile and as the police described, “A manipulative, drug-and-sex-crazed predator who used blood, gore, sexually explicit images of animal sacrifice and perverse adult sex acts to bend children to his will…He also had disgusting and downright shocking images of child torture, adult and child nudity, female bondage and sadomasochism.”
Chris Brown continues to thrive through his music even after the pictures of Rihanna’s bruised and battered face was plastered all over the internet. Donald Trump is considered a hero to over 80% of white women despite the leaked video of him explicitly discussing harassing women.
Sadly, these are the people America looks up to.
We need to stop supporting sexual predators and helping them rise to fame. Listening to their art is just as good as condoning their behavior. We cannot claim to be feminists or against sexual harassment when we are giving these exact people a career to thrive off of.
So next time you want to mention how much you miss Michael Jackson or XXXTentacion think again: do you really miss a pedophile and a sexual predator?
On point!