Robert Glasper Turned Chris Brown’s Grammy Insult Into a Golden Charity Opportunity
When they go low, Robert Glasper goes viral. The Grammy-winning pianist and producer/songwriter could have stewed about the static he got from Chris Brown after he bested the “Iffy” singer for this year’s best R&B golden gramophone and Brown griped, “Y’all playing. Who da f— is this?”
Instead of getting into a social media showdown with Brown, Glasper did something way better: he took the insult and printed it on a t-shirt while promising to donate the proceeds to a charity. On Tuesday (Feb. 14) Glasper announced that after just four days those shirts had sold out already.
“Thanks for the support. A portion of the proceeds from this shirt will be donated to the Community Music Center of New Orleans,” Glasper said in an Instagram post featuring an image of the black shirt emblazoned with Brown’s insult. “A nonprofit created to share the music culture and music education in New Orleans, providing free music lessons to underserved youth. I can’t thank y’all enough for supporting this cause.”
At press time Glasper had not announced how much was raised by the limited-edition shirts.
After an avalanche of social media critique for his fit of pique, Brown posted an apology 24 hours later, DMing Glasper to express regret for his comments. ““Congratulations my brother.. I would like to apologize if you took offense to my reaction at the Grammys,” Brown wrote. “You were not the intended target and I know I came off really rude and mean. After doing my research I actually think your amazing…THE ORGANIZATION ISN’T DOING US BLACKS OUR DUE DILIGENCE. YOU AND I SHOULD never be in the same [category].. two totally different vibes and genres. So from one black man to another.. CONGRATULATIONS. HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO FEED YOUR FAMILY FOR LIFE. God bless my G.”
Glasper’s righteous dunk on Brown is just the latest example of a musician turning hate into delicious haterade. It came six months after Maren Morris flipped her feud with Jason Alden’s wife, Brittany, over the latter’s transphobic joke into a “Lunatic Country Music Person” t-shirt that raised money for LGBTQ right organization GLAAD; the effort raised more than $100,000 for GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program and Trans Life.
Check out Glasper’s posts below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
