AIBU? Am I overreacting? Cheryl Cole interview on radio (possible rant)

[FeedingTheBirds]

Am not a prolific poster but just heard this interview with her on local radio and it is eating away at me.

Local radio station but I think they have many other "local" radio stations around the country, her interview can apparently be heard at www.indemand.fm. Don't know how to link - sorry.

She was discussing an upcoming possible duet with Rhianna and they got onto the subject of Chris Brown. Cheryl said that because Rhianna had publicly (sp?) forgiven Chris B that the rest of "us" should also. She went onto say that him being in the public eye made it harder for him and that through "her charity" she had met lots of reformed characters who had done "bad things and been in prison" and they were now upstanding members of the community.

I can't help thinking quite ferociously that she has said something quite silly. I know that 10 years ago when I was plucking up the courage to leave violent ex husband that hearing something like that might have made me think, hang on maybe he CAN reform and be a lovely pillar of the community and stayed and suffered for it. At that time I wouldn't have thought to myself I wonder how many violent men actually DO change their ways. I still do not know the statistics but I am betting it is fairly low.

Am I overthinking this? I am more than tempted to write to the radio station or in fact the company who own the various radio stations because I think she has said something stupid and potentially dangerous for many many vulnerable women. (Not sure what response I would expect if I even did contact them). Very unsure and as I have said, possibly overthinking.

I'm no apologist for Cheryl Cole and her vacuousity, but just wanted to correct Jojo's point - there is a Cheryl Cole Foundation which I understand she set up to support and raise funds for the Prince's Trust (in a similar way that the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation raises money for Cancer Research) concentrating on vulnerable young people in the NE. So a bit more than just choosing a lipstick.

No surprise that she would think that we should forgive people who beat up other people...

I don't particularly like her and think she's not too bright. However, there's a distinction to be made here: let's imagine for a minute that Chris Brown wasn't the specific example. If she'd just said that she's worked with ex-offenders and that people can come out of prison changed and turn their lives around, would we disagree with that? Probably, hopefully, not. Most offenders should get a second chance. BUT that gets tangled up with the issue of women in violent relationships, as per Rihanna and CB, giving their partners a 'second chance' (and maybe many more) which is a bad idea and seems to lead to further and escalating abuse. She really could have done with saying that of course although people in general can rehabilitate themselves, there is no excuse or violence in a relationship and that women in that situation shouldn't think there is. But I doubt she is intellectuallly quick enough to work out the distinction between rehabilitating offenders and excusing domestic violence when put on the spot, and plenty of other people would have struggled with this too. In a radio interview with room for spontaneity it would be difficult to manage. Agree also that she is influenced by her own history as an offender here.

But this is the beauty of Twitter and celebs having Twitter accounts, no? We can directly raise it with her - or at least her PR people. I am sorely tempted to send an @message to her, asking her to clarify her views on DV given what she said in the interview (course, I'd have to listen to it first, not wanting to go on pure conjecture, like). Not in an unreasonable way, just - you said CB should be forgiven - do you think you it's a responsible thing to say given how prevalent DV is?

I think she is an idiot of the highest order and I can't stand her, she is certainly not my sweetheart and I abhor pretty much everything she stands for. She is a thug with a pretty face, she has very little talent and spends a lot of money on talented super producers to give her hits, and she represents everything that is wrong with celebrity culture.

But Twitter...it does give us non-celebs a voice to question and challenge these morons who do have an influence on society. You live by the sword, you die by the sword...if they choose to use Twitter as yet another platform to promote themselves, we can also be make them answerable for their moronic-ness

Who knows, if enough people bombard her with this challenge, it will trend, it'll get in the media and she will have respond.

That is the best argument for getting twitter I have read. Or it would be if I understood it.

She makes me think of that quote 'Better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt' or some such thing

AnnaFender I also heard that ad for a radio station, and it said 'should Rhianna get back with Chris Brown?' in a light-hearted girly gossp way as if it was all make-up/break-up, and we were all round the water cooler. I was really struck dumb by this and wondered whether to contact the radio station to point out their thoughtlessness. It's not a fun gosspy debate: should you get back together with the man who beat you til you were unrecognizable and bit you so hard it left deep marks?

Cheryl Cole shouldn't be censored, but there should be plenty of other voices out there to point out that although some criminals (like burglars, perhaps?) may reform, many many domestic abusers continue to be abusive. Is the man who bit a woman likely to reform after going on a course and a bit of community service?

The fact that Chris Brown is still a megastar with legions of adoring fans is completely incomprehensible to me. He subjected a women to a sustained and brutal assault during which he not only repeatedly hit her but also bit her and tried to strangle her, all whilst driving a car. Maybe the next woman he does this to won't be rich and famous with a massive support network around her and the results of his actions will be an awful lot worse.

Cheryl Cole is an idiot for what she's said but she is just parroting the message that the entertainment industry and press have been sending out for years - if you're rich and famous you should be untouchable.

YANBU - Cheryl Cole is an airhead who has no self respect. She took her own husband back after he betrayed her, she's in the same class as Coleen Rooney imo.

Braindead idiots with no self respect should withdraw from public life and not try to be an influence on the little girls who buy their crap songs.

FWIW I think Rhianna is in the same league. Just because dressing like a trollop might be a cultural thing where she was born (I dont believe that for a minute but that was her attempt at an excuse) doesn't mean its appropriate.

Im inclined to think that shes been advised to say that about Chris Brown by her record company as they are arranging an upcoming duet or something like that; or perhaps she saying it to get in the good books of someone linked to him etc.
Then again, she has a brother who has been in and out of trouble so perhaps thats why shes defensive... hmm.

Interestingly, it got mentioned on a local radio station today and the DJ said 'Cheryl, why don't you just shut up? It's a serious thing he did'. So not all radio stations/presenters are falling in with this line where it = showbiz gossip, thankfully.

bettybat good idea but I don't believe Ms Cole is on Twitter. Think her PR firm are but can't remember their name.

YANBU, violent bastards don't change, she's an idiot.

She is @CherylCole on twitter.

hiveofbees of course. I do remember now reading that she had finally joined. Didn't she tweet something about 'my bitches' early on?

I'm not sure, I dont follow her

For anyone interested her tag line on twitter is:

I've learned sooo much from my mistakes.. I'm thinking of making some more ;-)

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the time my SIL was round for dinner. I commented that nobody seems to remember that Ms Cole volently assaulted a black toilet attendant, who was trying to stop her from nicking a lollipop (or something). SIL asked why a darkie would want to make a living selling lollipops and hairspray in a nightclub toilet; they're really annoying .

I was so shocked, I couldn't even put together a coherent argument. I would have needed a whiteboard.

I would have needed boxing gloves and a bodybag after a comment like that!

Mumsyblouse- Yes, much better put than me! I was really shocked at the tone on that ad

I agree with other posters, she seems to be trying to make a statement regarding her own actions in the past.

I don't deny that people CAN change and be rehabilitated...it does happen...but when it comes to people who make a living as role models for young people, I do think you need to be very careful. You need to think about the message that is put out there for people, especially young impressionable people.

Which is why I could never get my head around the fact that Chris Brown collaborated with Justin Bieber...whose target audience is young girls...sends a great message doesn't it?

I'm glad other people share my view on here...I posted up a thread about he Chris Brown/Justin Bieber thing on another site and was shouted down as being ridiculous.

With Cheryl Cole it seem like she has decided to hope that everyone forgets about it, and the press are obviously supporting her in that - when you think of the relatively innocuous things that they will bring up again and again, it does seem strange that a conviction for ABH, which is so incongruous with her presented image, is almost never mentioned.

I do feel it's one of the reasons she's kept the name Cole. Although I saw a bit of her new video the other day and she's now just "Cheryl".

Can't quite face going back to Tweedy can she?

Can't a woman move on? She was cleared of racially aggravated assault. Who are we to decide the jury were wrong?

OP - I agree with you. She is being very flippant about something serious. She is playing a tactical game, as others have said, because she herself has a conviction for a violent offence.

I think you should contact the radio station and maybe link them to this thread.

She was convicted of ABH, who are we to decide the jury were wrong?

She was still convicted of assault - did you see photos of the woman's eye? OK, she wasn't convicted of the racially aggravated bit, but Cheryl's still a woman who thought it was OK to punch a woman who was trying to earn a living working in a nightclub toilet.

I'd have felt as strongly about this if the woman was white.

Lougle she has shown herself to be violent