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Ebony Article Calls Out "Gold Digger" comments


wayneashleymusic

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When we hear about a famous Black woman going through a separation, breakup, or divorce, we reflexively aim to scrutinize what could be her transgressions.

Instead of looking at Ciara as a survivor of an unhealthy relationship, she’s framed as a callous gold digger. Instead of looking at Halle Berry as a woman who has unfortunately suffered through inadequate relationships, she’s framed as an intrinsically flawed woman with an inability to appropriately discern potential partners. And now, Janet Jackson, coming off of her recently failed marriage to Wissam Al-Mana, is being excoriated as a greedy, loveless, parasite because things didn’t work out.

http://www.ebony.com/love-sex/janet-jackson-divorce-black-women#axzz4dxuBfCwS  

 

Also glad to see that BET might have come to its senses, thanks to the #JanFam.  They went and posted a bunch of Clap Backs... 

http://www.bet.linkis.com/7dSJr 

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BET did a REALLY good write up about the disrespect she's received as a whole lately too. This makes me proud as fuck, both the Ebony & BET articles. I wish it was beyond the black community (ala Rolling Stone or BIllboard) where this was being discussed, because frankly, the black community knows this all already (except with the Ebony article, thats important for everyone and how Black women/women of color are characterized with their breakups, I've been uncomfortable for years about how women like Halle Berry, and Jennifer Lopez have been talked about at the end of their relationships but I don't see many white women talked about in the same light), but this problem with how Janet is treated has for almost 15yrs now been a mainstream POP culture issue. Glad to say it's gotten better since Unbreakable, but this incident proves they still don't look at her highly and worth all the respect she's demanded and earned by herself.

http://www.bet.com/music/2017/04/11/janet-jackson-divorce-opinion.html?sf69742682=1

Janet Jackson: Pop Music's Most Disrespected Icon

How a legend got reduced to a "raunchy pop star."

Even by tabloid standards, the crudely constructed headline, "From raunchy pop star to Muslim single mum at 50 - just what is going on with Janet Jackson?," the brazen query from UK rag the Daily Mirror had all the subtlety of a sexual harassment employee video starring FOX News blowhard Bill O’Reilly. There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s start with the underlying fact that one of music’s most successful and culturally influential acts has been reduced to a “raunchy pop star.”

Yes, Janet Jackson — a woman who has sold over 100 million albums, becoming the blueprint for aspiring starlets worldwide who could unleash every eye-cutting note and body rolling move from 1987’s iconic “The Pleasure Principle” clip by heart — has become the most disrespected pop behemoth this side of Mariah Carey

Such is the indignity of being the veteran singer and actress who is currently dominating the news cycle following her separation from her Muslim billionaire husband, Wissam Al Mana. Much of the coverage of the 50-year-old music legend’s split has trafficked largely in misogynistic conspiracy theories and innuendo that would have you believe that Janet, who is reportedly worth more than $250 million, gave birth to a miracle child and broke it off with Mana precisely at the five-year mark to tap into an unsubstantiated prenuptial agreement reportedly worth $500 million. Following the news of the breakup, social media went into a gossiping frenzy. “Janet Jackson is a scammer…Lol she got that baby and split…Collect that child support boo,” said one critic on Twitter. “Janet Jackson just showed us that marriage is nothing more than a wedding ring and business,” claimed another.

So how did we get to the point where an iconic artist who has amassed her own sizable fortune is suddenly demonized as a gold digging, loveless, calculating bed wench? You’d have to go back to the black nipple that flashed the world; that is, Janet’s infamous 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show performance, for which she was painted in a worse light than the CEO of United Airlines after former N’SYNC member turned blue-eyed-soul great white hope Justin Timberlake pulled the Control star’s bustier to reveal a barely covered breast. Almost overnight, the Grammy-winning diva saw her career flatline as radio stations dropped her from their playlists.

And while Jackson, who was publicly forced to do everything but carry a cross to atone for her alleged sins, managed to make a moderate comeback with her 11th studio album, 2015’s Unbreakable, and a well-received concert tour (postponed following news that the singer and her Qatari husband were expecting a baby), it has been strange, side-eye-inducing times for the music legend.

Most glaring is the puzzling case of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s continued snubbing of Janet, who received her first nomination in 2015, despite being eligible since 2007. According to veteran author and music journalist Alan Light, who serves on the RRHOF’s nominating committee, he is just as baffled at the institution’s disposable treatment of JJ. “To me, if Madonna goes in first ballot, but Janet Jackson goes on the ballot and doesn’t get in, there’s something happening,” he told me, making a reasonable comparison between the former pop peers and rivals. “How could one of them get in and not the other? I think it’s because Madonna is seen as having a more rock and roll attitude whereas Janet is seen as more of a dance artist.”

Well, that’s part of the reason. There’s also the Hall’s abysmal treatment of female artists, their rockist approach to black- and gay-anchored dance music and its massive blind spot for any R&B music released post 1978. And yet, your mind races back to those loud, triggering words “raunchy pop star…single mum.” It doesn’t matter that Janet can proudly point to six multi-platinum albums, including the aforementioned 1986 album Control, 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet., all landmark, empowering statements that have influenced everyone from Adele to Beyoncé. Or that, according to Billboard, Jackson has knocked out 10 Hot 100 No. 1s and 27 Top 10 singles, placing her in the same company as Elton John and Carey.

Nor does it matter that Janet broke new ground after signing a record-breaking recording contract in 1991 worth $32 million and was truthfully doing her larger-than-life sibling Michael a favor when she contributed to their hit duet “Scream” (The late Gloved One was still repairing a somewhat tarnished image after unproven accusations of child sexual abuse and needed a boost from his “hotter” baby sis).

To a good segment of American society, Janet Jackson is viewed no different than any other Black woman: a mere punching bag filled with baby mama tropes, “nappy headed ho” put downs (thanks French Montana), angry black woman archetypes, overtly sexualized twerkers and scheming, money-grubbing thots looking for the next come-up. It’s a sobering reality that White House correspondent April RyanCongresswoman Maxine Waters, 22-year-old waitress Maryam Barksdale and even former First Lady Michelle Obama know all too well.

And it’s the same double standard of reality in which a blond Madonna, who once released a nude, explicit coffee table book entitled Sex, can be celebrated for smashing patriarchal constrictions and waving the flag for female empowerment while Janet is dismissed as a freak during her bondage-indulging apex on 1997’s underrated The Velvet Rope.

It’s black and white.

Written by Keith Murphy

 
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im still trying to figure out why everybody is all up in her marital affairs. anybody with common sense knows that prenup story is bogus but if it was true how does that make her a golddigger? janet cant draw up a prenup for wissam's assets he would of had to come up with those terms and sign it, if he was stupid enough to make that kind of arrangement was janet supposed to say ' no, thats ok" even if she dont need it?  she made all the compromises in that marriage, she uprooted her life, adapted to his culture and religion,alianated her own fans and had a whole baby at age 50, the way i see it his ass owes her.

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It is Black and White.....she's dismissed regularly and while I hear the likes of Madonna, Whitney, Michael, and Prince on the radio throwbacks you dont hear much Janet.

well whitney, michael and prince are black. And the Sex book by Madonna got blasted  at the time. Regardless I guess colour does play it's part . if J had done the same book she woulda literally been crucified.

I  think another reason she is not given her dues is coz she keeps lokey.  She has never really been an industry chick. Does a project then goes away, rarely caught up in controversy.  People forget about her impact, especially in comparison to her brother.

Edited by vibeology
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