Rihanna and Chris Brown: The Financial Value of Rihanna's Pain

I hated what Chris Brown did to Rihanna. I was angered, disappointed and irritated by the fact that many are quick to forgive egregious behavior on the part of celebrities, and a hit song can forgive all sins. At the same time, celebs are just like the rest of us, full of complexities that the world may never come to understand. Rihanna has walked away from Chris and she is now telling the entire world how bad of a man he is, and we're all taking her side.

The problem for Rihanna, however, is that her actions aren't making much sense.

Rihanna's recent whirlwind media tour has included the likes of ABC News, MTV and other major media outlets. Throughout this tour, she has allowed the world to enter into her dark reflection on the relationship she had with Chris Brown, with that reflection seeming to have almost no productive purpose. I am not sure why the he-say/she-say between two 19-year old kids should be the concern of the nation. But then again, I am sitting here writing about it, so I am as guilty as everyone else.

The truth is, clearly, that Rihanna could have used this incident as a teachable moment and then moved on with her life. But that wouldn't be nearly as profitable as doing a media tour attacking Chris.

The point here is clear and quick:

A personal tragedy is usually leveraged in order to sell a book or album: Did you notice how tennis star Andre Agassi revealed his drug addiction when his book was released? What about when Mackenzie Phillips announced that her father, well-known performer John Phillips, molested her as a child? Stories like this are a great way to get people to read your book or buy your records. Notice that it took Rihanna several months to start talking about Chris Brown in public. That was probably because she had to finish up her tracks. By the way - her album is scheduled for release in a few days. The Chris Brown story will be the primary driver of her album sales.

Now, I am a Finance Professor and a capitalist. Well, I am mostly capitalist, to a point. I can understand why Rihanna's handlers are milking the cow till the udders fall off. The story is interesting and like hungry kids in a candy store, we are salivating to find out more about what happened. But the truth is that we only know most of what occurred, not everything: All we really know is that they got into a fight and Chris won. But we also know that Chris lost the war because he is the one who got arrested. Is there anything else we need to know? Is there anything new that Rihanna is telling us other than vague and "clearly objective"(LOL) things like "his eyes had no soul." What the heck does that mean anyway?

While we can respect Rihanna's decision to use this situation as a chance to build her brand (similar to when Juanita Bynum was allegedly beaten by her husband and then declared herself to be "the face of domestic violence"), the truth is that we probably shouldn't fall for the hype. We should realize that this was an unfortunate situation,with many lessons to be learned about domestic violence in the black community. Rihanna will sell her records, and Chris will have to rebuild his own brand. But at the end of the day, this media whirlwind created by Rihanna is, for the most part, an opportunity to not only punch back at Chris, but a chance to make a little dough in the process.

As the rapper TI might say, "It is what it is."

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Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.