Why are people so negative when it comes to Karrueche Tran? Seriously, though, inquiring minds here at the office (and currently on Twitter) are desperate to know.
I’ve rarely seen such vitriol aimed at a woman for leaving an emotionally abusive boyfriend, making the most of the doors that were opened for her and picking up the pieces to move forward. And sadly, a lot of the asperity seems to come from not just men but women as well.
But let me backtrack. The whole reason I’m even talking about Tran at this moment is because of Chris Brown. The singer comment creeped more than once this past year underneath photos of Tran on Instagram. He even went as far as to comment saying that he still wants her, or “it,” under a recent image of Tran that she posted:
But Brown had his chance and lost it. Other people can see that Tran is indeed a beautiful woman and they’re also acknowledging it. When another troubled musician rapper Soulja Boy left some hearts under a picture of her this week, Brown allegedly called the rapper, a beef was started, and the two have since been going back and forth for the entirety of the day. When Tran tried to step in to say that they needed to focus their energy elsewhere, as she has done, to say that Brown didn’t appreciate her two cents would be a massive understatement.
Here’s what she said about the drama encircling her:
And here is what he said in response. Apologies for the language:
You would think she cheated on him and had a baby with somebody else, right? Unfortunately, that’s more up his alley.
And while Brown’s disparaging response wasn’t surprising (I wonder what he said to her behind closed doors during their relationship), what I found quite disturbing was the number of people, including young women, who were criticizing Tran for calling out the tomfoolery. And no, I’m not talking solely about teen Team Breezy fans. Many seconded Brown’s commentary and said that if it weren’t for him, Tran wouldn’t be anything. That’s why I have to ask: What’s people’s real beef with Karrueche Tran?
For one, people call her everything but her name. Koochie, Kooch, Karrot Cake, Karoake — people call her just about anything in an effort to be disrespectful of her and her Vietnamese culture. She’s criticized for taking advantage of opportunities that came her way to launch an acting career, which, yes, has earned her an Emmy (for the web series The Bay the Series). She’s criticized for moving on from an incredibly unhealthy relationship, one where Brown literally put her in a love triangle and then publicly left her for someone else (and she gave him another chance!), only to come back around and impregnate an associate during their relationship. She was literally minding her business before her ex, behaving as bitter exes sometimes do, started creeping around her page for attention. And despite all this, she’s “irrelevant”? “She needs to sit down?” “She needs to keep quiet?” She gets the brunt of the blame for this situation and many others?
This Twitter user put it best:
https://twitter.com/Flashy_Words/status/816374108019654656
If anything, Tran would have every right to cut all the way up on Brown if she so chose to. Instead, all she asked was that he grow up and leave her out of the foolishness. In response, she was called a “dumba–,” a “b—h” and was basically told that he made her. What in the entire hell?
And that, on top of unreasonable hatred of this young woman, is another thing I can’t seem to fathom. I’m over the idea that when men see you moving on with someone else, they act as though they are responsible for where you are in life and for wherever you end up.
Like that time Kanye West tried to act as though he literally birthed Amber Rose this past January. While beefing with Wiz Khalifa on Twitter, West made the obvious move of throwing their shared ex into the conversation. West told his fellow rapper that “You wouldn’t have a child if it wasn’t for me,” and he even went as far as to say “I own your child.”
And then there was the time model Tyson Beckford publicly stated that he was to thank for model Shanina Shaik’s success and appeal.
As he told The Evening Standard:
When I found her she was a regular girl. I helped place her with the right people, get her teeth cleaned, her body toned up,’ he says, framing himself as the Henry Higgins of fashion. ‘Everything changed and now everyone wants a piece of her. I hear people say, “You can do better than Tyson.” I’m like, “Really? Really?! I created her!”?’
And now there’s Brown. How does one take credit for the entire essence of a person and what they would or could have been before and after a relationship? Who is to say that if she hadn’t met him, she wouldn’t have had success as a celebrity stylist, since that’s how they met one another in the first place? Who is to say that another door may not have opened up for her to act if she hadn’t run into him first? This belief that someone needs to give you their firstborn and bow down because you introduced them to the world as a girlfriend is patriarchy as its finest. At this point, she owes that man nothing — that includes the time of day. Who you are and what you end up doing for yourself shouldn’t forever be attached to who you dated. The idea that even Serena Williams, tennis legend, was labeled as “Common and Drake’s ex” when hip-hop sites reported on her engagement last week should show you how unacceptable this “You are who you date” mentality is. So to know that Tran decided to move on, work hard (not join a reality TV show) and make the most of her opportunities to where she doesn’t need to run back to Brown should be applauded — not criticized. On the other hand, the fact that this grown man, a father of a young daughter, gets to constantly find new ways to terrorize his ex should get called out — not commended.
Images via WENN
