GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Chris Brown performs on GOOD MORNING AMERICA, 3/22/11, airing on the ABC Television Network.
Ida Mae Astute/ABCRussell Simmons thinks people are being too hard on Chris Brown, who stormed off the Good Morning America set and smashed a window after becoming disgruntled during an interview with Robin Roberts Tuesday.
“Give this man a break. I spoke to him last night for a long time and I know how good of a young man he is,” Simmons writes on his GlobalGrind.com blog. “He’s having the same type of struggles that all those other Disney kids have and all the other people who have instant fame….”
Simmons then refers to his 2009 assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, a topic that angered Brown at GMA.
“And because of that one regretful incident, no one will give him a break. You can give them media coaches, but can you give them life coaches? A media coach is great, but a life coach is what he’s in need of. And my heart and my office door is always open to him,” he says.
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Simmons says, “Chris is suffering from the same thing as almost every young star has gone through, including the Disney kids. And, having lost control, some of these young artists, sometimes, do an unspeakable thing at a moment of time. And they pay the price. What’s not fair is artists paying the price of the sins in their young lives for the rest of their lives.”
Simmons calls Brown, who just released his new album, F.A.M.E., “one of the greatest performing artists of his time.”
“His freedom is deeply rooted in his artistic expression. It is during those seconds of stillness when you’re dancing that the Christ/Buddha/Allah/Moses inside of you is awakened and comes to power,” he adds. “This is the freedom Chris knew as a child, but as he rose to fame, finding freedom became a lot more complicated. Coming back home is a very difficult thing. Coming back to being normal, coming back to that pure place of artistry. But, when fame snatches your freedom, the ability to control your own life becomes much more difficult.”
Brown said he was sorry for his GMA outburst on BET’s 106 and Park Wednesday.
“I want to apologize to anybody who was startled in the office, or anybody who was offended or really looked, and [was] disappointed at my actions, because I’m disappointed in the way I acted,” he said.
