Chief Keef’s offensive comments to Katy Perry should warrant much harsher consequences according to Tracy Clayton.
It’s easy to forget that Chief Keef is just 17 years old — he doesn’t look it, and the rap star is far more successful than your average teenager. But his recent Twitter antics are an unpleasant reminder of just how young he really is.
It all started when pop singer Katy Perry heard Keef’s song “I Hate Being Sober.” Katy was not a fan of the song and said so, as is her right as an American citizen, thanks to the First Amendment. “Just heard a new song on the radio called ‘I Hate Being Sober,’ she tweeted. ‘I have serious doubt for the world.”
Chief Keef responded to Perry’s tweet two days later with profanity, insults, and threats of bodily harm. Some hours later, Perry responded with … an apology?
When I first heard of the little squabble between the two, I shook my head and said “Ain’t that a shame.” His response was over-the-top and completely immature. You’d hope that someone would be better at controlling their anger, but kids have to grow into being able to do that. Keef clearly isn’t there yet. Further, the fact that the tweets have not yet been deleted shows a lack of competency in his management team, and that his account is still active is a failure of the Twitter police (threatening bodily harm is a violation of Twitter’s terms of service).
As disappointed as I am with all of the above, I’m even more frustrated with Katy Perry’s response. Perry paid Keef a lot of respect that he did not deserve. He behaved like a child and should have been addressed as such: “No, you don’t get to talk to me that way. You’re being very disrespectful and I don’t deserve it. I’m sorry that you’re angry, but you need to find a mature way to deal with strong emotions. It’s not okay to resort to violence because you don’t get your way. You’re behaving very unprofessionally right now.” These are things that someone should have told Chief Keef — his handlers clearly aren’t doing it.
The tweets between the two were retweeted over 15,000 times, which means that their fans, many of whom are likely young and impressionable, witnessed the exchange. There is a dangerous lesson to be learned there, both by Keef and his young fans: It’s okay for a man to threaten to assault a woman if she says or something you don’t like. Not only is it okay, but it will put her in her place.
I applaud Perry for taking the high road and not jumping into the pit to sling mud with Keef. But she could have done that in the course of standing up for herself. I personally would have taken the issue to his parole officer and let the law deal with it. What this teenage rapper needs to learn is that there are consequences to your actions, online and off.
By Tracy Clayton
Originally appeared at Uptown Magazine
The nigga is from Chicago lmfao, niggas don’t give no fucks… Jesus white people overreact and make articles about the smallest shit????
I think Katy Perry knows what she said and what she meant. If she chose to apologize, I’m assuming it’s warranted.
I had never heard of him before this post. He is likely hoping to cash in via his offensiveness to a bigger celebrity than himself. In the time it took me to scroll down to make this comment, I had already forgotten what his name was. I plan on maintaining that.
I feel similarly about the young man in question, sort of like I did during the Kanye West/Taylor Swift… thing… a couple of years back. I had never heard of either of them at that time, though, and had to get my then fiancee to explain who the both were. I have only heard of Katy Perry because her eyes are such an astounding shade of blue that even my color blind self can register them. I waver back and forth on whether or not pop culture is something that I should ignore totally as the sound and fury of… Read more »
What I find interesting is that Katy Perry’s initial response isn’t called into question. She voiced her opinion “as every American has a right to do”, but just because you can it doesn’t always mean you should. Twitter is an utter bite of banality at the best of times, perhaps people shouldn’t automatically assume that whatever opinion they feel like throwing out there is going to get a warm reception. As for the last part “There is a dangerous lesson to be learned there, both by Keef and his young fans: It’s okay for a man to threaten to assault… Read more »
Give me a break. Why genderise the issue? It’s never ok to threaten anyone. One person said they didn’t like another person’s work, and the other person threatened them. This has happened in hip hop circles for 2 decades now, but as soon as Katy Perry is involved, all of a sudden it’s a violence against women issue. A common tactic. If it’s something bad that a woman does to a man then making gender an issue is damn near forbidden. That hypothetical scenario is just a random one off and its not just improper but sexist against women to… Read more »
I agree to no end that making this an issue of gender was the absolute wrong track to take. “Beefs,” as I believe such conflicts are often called in the entertainment community of which Mr. Keef is a part, have lead to the deaths of a number of young men and should be discouraged in the strongest possible terms. The cycle of ego and violence gets out of hand so easily, especially with a guy as young as this. Maybe this situation will have given CK some ideas on how that cycle can break, even if he only fully absorbs… Read more »
I think that there’s such a thing as non-offensive privilege. Look, some of us can’t breathe without being offensive, and it may even be a good thing. So, as you non-offensives go about your business, be conscious of your non-offensive privilege. You get all sorts of benefits we don’t. Invitations to parties, job opportunities, on and on. This isn’t to make you feel guilty…
I have always really liked Katy Perry for some reason–even beyond the obvious one that she looks like a Bruce Timm drawing come delightfully to life–and now she’s given me a very good excuse. Gracefully defusing the ranting and raving of a foolish child like that, instead of engaging him, shows eloquence and aplomb beyond most of today’s “shining people.”
Obviously her white privilege blinded her to the issues that young black men face in our society. If only she understood more about African American subculture she would not have reacted with such ignorance….
[yes, that was sarcasm]
The question for Keef’s agent/handlers is whether his tweets cost him listeners or gained him listeners. I’m not so sure his outburst really hurt his popularity. Is there such thing as bad publicity in the music biz? I’m not so sure. I agree she didn’t owe him an apology. Her apology may have been a good idea anyway, public-relations-wise. The cynical side of me wonders if this really was a spontaneous exhange or something staged as a media event. It’s so naive to assume that recording artists simple act like everyone else. Not when we’re talking about publicity and millions… Read more »