Freeing Bobby Brown

  It’s odd, in 2007, to write about someone who hasn’t been musically relevant in more than a decade.  But in today’s world of paparazzi and reality TV, when the most popular pastime is watching stars fall and celebrity marriages crumble, a story on the sordid world of Bobby Brown doesn’t seem so out of place.

  Brown seems to be developing a new habit.  For the second time this year, he was arrested in Massachusetts last Sunday (2/25) for failure to pay child support while watching his daughter’s cheerleading competition.  Déjà vu.

  But this is where it gets interesting.  After spending three days in the county clink, Bobby was sprung by a Washington, D.C. radio station—of course, there were some strings attached.  Clear Channel-owned WIHT, Hot 99.5, agreed to put up more than $19,000 to get the “My Prerogative” singer-turned-reality-TV-star out of lockup.  In exchange, Bobby would work for the station for a week, guest-hosting various shows.  Station morning host Kane told the radio trade mag FMQB, “We have $19,150 to give to Bobby Brown to pay the child support he owes, which is why he’s still locked up and which is why he has no friends, and a wife that doesn’t love him.  We’re willing to do this in return for him hanging out with us for a week and helping out with the community.”  During Brown’s stay in Washington, the station offered to put him up in a nice hotel, provide him car service, and “treat him like a king…because he is Bobby Brown.”

  While the whole thing smelled like a publicity stunt, Kane said there was more to it.  “We’re trying to put this all in a positive light, not just for the media attention, but we’re helping his kids because we want them to be okay and have the money.  And we’d love to have him in DC to help out the local community and prove he’s a good guy and all he need[s] is a chance.”

  But after Bobby was free, the bottom dropped out.  In a phone interview on Kane’s show Friday morning, Brown claimed that there had been a misunderstanding, and furthermore, that the station had not bailed him out.  “You paid me some chips to be on your radio station. That’s how it was,” Brown said to Kane.  Kane responded, “We didn’t pay to get you on the radio station, we paid to get you out of jail.”  Brown then claimed that he was already out of jail when the station money came through—a statement that, when pressed on the issue, Brown conceded was not true.

  When Kane brought up the notion that Bobby would be working for the station for a week, Brown began waffling, and Kane became irritated.  “I thought we agreed—and our agreement was in writing, that you’re gonna come and you’re gonna be an employee of this radio station.”  Brown replied, “No, that wasn’t our agreement,” and hung up on the morning host.

  Later that day, the station announced that an agreement was made with Brown, that the original “work for bail” deal was off, and that Brown would be returning the money.  “We feel that there are better things that we can do with the money locally,” said Kane.

  Once again, as in the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” Boston bomb scare, we come back to the price of publicity.  At the end of the day, Hot 99.5 got a week’s worth of free publicity, and the troubled singer can go back to “Being Bobby Brown.”

-From Pulse
   March 8, 2007