Michael Arceneaux, EBONY.com contributor and Master of Shade, calls out five of his biggest gripes from the past week. Rejoice and be read. Follow Michael @youngsinick.
1. You Tried It, Tamar: I completely understand why Tamar Braxton opted to take to Instagram to read Chris Brown his rights after he childishly unleashed on both she and fellow The Real co-host, Adrienne Bailon, following a relationship segment that referenced Brown’s relationship with Karrueche Tran. Chris Brown doesn’t know how to control his emotion; he refuses to take up journaling as a hobby; he still fails to see how aggressively attacking people even if verbally continues to make him look like a monster, especially if women are his targets. Breezy was disrespectful, so who am I to deny Tamar’s desire to clap back?
Still, there’s one line that rubs me the wrong way: “In this very queenish mood you are experiencing.”
Tamar has made some very questionable comments about a certain type of gay man. Femininity on a man seems to bug her at times. Like the comment made about dressing a baby boy a more masculine way during The Real’s test run last year. Or the time on her reality show when she mocked the lisp of a gay blogger who bugged her. Now she’s using the phrase “queenish mood” as a pejorative about Chris Brown.
It’s ironic given that, much like the most popular characters on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Tamar uses queen to insult men, but models her behavior so much off of those very queens for profit and a come up. So the “shade” and “reads” are good for more screen time, but the second a man upsets, you fall into the very sort of stereotyping and attempts at emasculation the average homophobe does to put down a guy. Ain’t that peculiar.
2. Rage Against The Gays: Rose McGowan took to Twitter to apologize for her claims that the gay community has “fought for the right to stand on top of a float wearing an orange speedo and take molly.” But, she did not back down from comments that gay men are more misogynistic than straight men and that gay men have not fought hard enough for women’s rights.
For starters, she’s only thinking of gay White men-but those are apparently the only gay people who exist, so whatever. Next, while I certainly agree that generally speaking, minority groups could stand to support one another as there are strength in numbers, I don’t hear Rose bringing about awareness to the growing crisis of Black and Latino gay men becoming infected with HIV/AIDS due to very paltry attempts at reaching them with preventive information from health care officials?
Marriage equality is now a culturally acceptable movement, but are you worried about anything else, “ally?”
I could go on, but Rose doesn’t give a damn. By the way, Rose, yes, there are misogynistic gay men, but not more than straights by default. Furthermore, if you think curing that problem is by being insulting, well, I have a hole to direct you to that you’re more than welcome to crawl under.
3. Another Day, Another Complaint About “The Emasculation of the Black Man”: You know, to be so much about bravado, I’m taken aback by how whiny so many hypermasculine Black men have been all year about the “feminization of the Black man.” The latest conversation about this exhausting topic centers on LeBron James’ new “FloBron” ad launched by Progressive Insurance. LeBron has on his basketball uniform only – gasp – he has on a woman’s wig, therefore the destruction of the Black man is imminent.
Honestly, these chats are just stupid Black man who feel like if you’re not clutching your penis every other second while damning anything “feminine” at every turn, you’re not a “real man.” They feel as if a Black man – especially of one of note – does anything feminine (no matter how secure he may be in his manhood) that it is an example of the White man trying to soil the Black man. Meanwhile, they don’t seem to grasp that they are perpetuating the very sort of hypermasculinity white people forced upon on us long ago – and that’s what is actually so damaging to your people. Idiots.
4. I’m No Opportunist, But…: I was sent a statement by the mother of Mathew Knowles’ fourth child, who denied she was an “opportunist.”
It included this at the tail end:
“TaQoya is continuing her real estate career and expanding her brand with a vintage lingerie line to be released in 2015. She also continues to support her daughter Koi, who is in the process of launching her own child lip gloss and haircare line.”
The next one will mention Mona Scott Young and Love & Hip Hop: Houston.
5. Chris Brown, Fix Your Life: Ask your therapist if they think you being on social media is a good idea. Step two: Break your phone.
