Nickelodeon Stands By Chris Brown As "Best Male" Nominee

NEW YORK — Nickelodeon said it has no plans to remove Chris Brown as a nominee for its annual Kids' Choice Awards, despite the singer's felony charges for allegedly beating up his girlfriend Rihanna.

Brown is nominated for favorite male singer and favorite song for "Kiss Kiss." Rihanna, who police say was allegedly punched, bitten and choked by Brown in the early morning hours before last month's Grammy Awards, is nominated for best song, too.

An online petition asking Nickelodeon to remove Brown and Rihanna as nominees had 4,655 signatures Tuesday.

"Like all our KCA nominees, Chris Brown was nominated by kids several months ago based on his body of work as a performer, and the kids who vote will ultimately decide who wins in the category," Dan Martinsen, Nickelodeon spokesman, said.

The awards show is scheduled for March 28. It is usually Nick's biggest event of the year for its youthful audience, and Dwayne Johnson, the former wrestler turned actor, is the host.

Nick said it has gotten hundreds of calls protesting the nomination. Brown was nominated before the incident with Rihanna, and the honor had received little notice until the singer posted a note last week on his Facebook urging his fans to vote for him.

The online petitioners say Brown's name "should have been removed from contention" the moment the charges were filed. Rihanna is named in their petition because she hasn't broken off her relationship with Brown, the petitioners said.

Nickelodeon drew up its list of award nominees from surveys its young viewers completed late last year, the network said. The nominees were announced on Feb. 6 _ two days before the Grammys.

People can vote through Nick's Web site on the awards as often as they want until shortly before the ceremony airs live in two and a half weeks. Besides Rihanna, Brown is competing with Beyonce and Katy Perry in the best song competition. Other male singer nominees are Jesse McCartney, Kid Rock and T-Pain.

Nick said that whoever gets the most votes in their category wins the award. However, the network doesn't announce the vote totals, so there is no way to independently verify the winners.

Brown isn't the only nominee with a whiff of controversy. Michael Phelps, nominated as favorite male athlete, was photographed smoking from a marijuana pipe last fall.

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On the Net:

http://www.nick.com/kids-choice-awards/vote

Comments

[ReesieKitty]

We are boycotting Nick- I've talked with my 9 year old son about why. I never was under any illusion that they had any child's best interest at heart in the first place- they exist solely to make money, obviously. But to condone a man beating a woman by endorsing Chris Brown on their show sends such a disgusting message to boys and girls. Forget all the spin and double-talk: Nick is run by adults, not kids. They had a chance to make a mature, adult decision and they've blown it with me.

[PatA]

Didn't Nick keep Jamie Spears on after she revealed being pregnant and unmarried?

[bichn]

There is a huge difference between a teenager getting pregnant (consentually) and a 19 year old guy beating the crap out of his girlfriend. Unfortunately, it seems to be all too common these days and young women need to know that it is NOT ACCEPTABLE under any circumstances.

[ladydragon]

very young children should not be discussing very adult situations. what happened between those two should not concern pre-teens and adolecents. If parents teach their children that if someone puts their hands on then, then that person should be dealt with appropriately, and not told all the gory details of a suspicion of infidelity and a beat-down

[zannamar]

Unfortunately their are children that witness this behavior in their very own home, it doesn't just effect the adults involved.

[coco51]

ladydragon, children are the ones who BUY AND LISTEN to Rhianna (20 YEAR OLD YOUNG ADULT) and Brown (19 YEAR OLD BOY). The mere fact that you say this tells me you do not have young children around you otherwise you'd have had conversations about not HITTING AND TOUCHING!!. More children than we'd like to believe are exposed to abuse by their parents and live in home where spousal abuse has sometimes irreparable damaged them.
Do you really believe that when a child see his or her parent being beaten it has no effect on them. When children watch after school programs that have violence or play games that are interactively violent are they not learning?

I understand your desire to protect childrens innocence, but you'd be doing a disservice if you didn't speak with them about the world we live in in all it's wonders and flaws.

[auramac]

Whores.

[texastrixie]

Yes, Nickelodeon has abandoned any premise that it cares about its young viewers. From the picture, it is obvious that Rihanna was beaten. No one has been convicted, but the channel should have removed both names from contention for any award, and probably Phelps as well. This is only an award. It would not hurt these individuals, nor their young fans, to see that society considers certain behavior so reprehensible that it must be publicly disowned. Nickelodeon - FOR SHAME. Rihanna's negative behavior is that she is still associating with Chris before he pleads guilty, gets counseling, and makes some real effort to make sure he never resorts to such behavior again. She can forgive him, but roses and talk aren't enough. He has to seek help to overcome his need to lash out and inability to control himself.

[jka1071]

Nick's argument is that they are letting the kids make the decision here. What a cop out excuse for not making a responsible decision. If we let kids decide everything there would be no school and we would all eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We, as responsible adults, sometimes have to make decisions FOR children because we have the experience and best interest of them at heart. Nick obviously does not have the best interest of our kids in mind, just ratings. My kids watch Nick almost exclusively, which will stop if Nickelodeon does not do the right thing here.

[Melissa]

There are a lot of petitions on line to stop this. If they do not do the right thing for children who watch this station, mine will never watch again.

[Back2Life]

Nick is a kid's show where kids vote. The decision kids will have to make is whether Chris was the best singer in his category; pretty easy. They are not asking kids to make adult decisions in life such as the Stimulus Package, creating new laws, or any other adult decision that has nothing to do with a kids' show.

[JStilabo]

I guess beating up your girlfriend is now an accepted practice. I can't wait to see him get out of jail time so that I too may use the precedent of Chris Brown as my get out of jail free card for beating up a woman card. Why would Nickelodeon drop him when they are owned by the same people who own MTV. We all know that MTV is destroying the youth of America and now they are just going after the kids even earlier now with the Nickelodeon.

[Witchitalineman]

Nickoledon should remove Brown. What a horrible message to send to kids that they support abuse.

[Snowspot]

Nice job Nickelodeon, good way to stand for something (lol)

[Back2Life]

He was nominated before his alleged domestic violence charge. In America, we are innocent until proven guilty. This is an awards show for the kids, so let them decide if he should win. If Chris Brown wants to remove his name then let him, but it should be his decision and not ours. We can't seek and destroy someone before they've even had a chance to plea their case.

[Witchitalineman]

A picture tells a thousand words. Get real. He shouldn't be on any awards show for kids.

[DEANNADST6]

all the below are nominated for something on Nick kid award show

[DEANNADST6]

Let's be fair....lets not pick and chose what offense (s) are more reprehenisible or acceptable. Let's also boycott the following people:

Jesse McCartney - underage drinking
Kid Rock - assaulting Tommy Lee during the MTV Awards
T-Pain arrested on warrants/brawl in London
Chris Brown - Alledge DV
Mike Phelp- Marijuana bong pic

[daisydukes]

I have one question for you.....according to the picture out there, which one between Chris and Rihanna had a "badly smashed up" face and was found basically unconscious? As we all know by now, Chris still has his smooth babyface, he does not have to hide like Rihanna now has to do. Chris publicly apologized thereby acknowleding wrong doing on his side. All the courts must do is decide how severe was the situation. A man beating the crap out of a woman is a social disease that is in a league of its own and should top your shopping list above.

[w&cheneysuck]

http://tyrashow.ning.com/video/play-chris-brown-punchout

Enjoy!

[proudandtrue]

I'd like to nominate CB to Nickelodeon's Annual Kids Choice of Whether to Pim*p Slap or Kickbox This Punk's Thug A$$ Award.
I vote pim*p slap.

[JeanMerilynSimmons]

And here I thought with the advent of "The Amanda Show", they had hit a new low.

Rihanna's just lucky Chris didn't kill her...this time.

I grew up with Nickelodeon, with shows like "Hey, Dude" and "The Rugrats"; Nick at Nite was great, too--"Patty Duke", "Mr. Ed", etc. It's really tanked since I've grown up.

Only question is how low can they go?

[Cherlesq]

boycott Nick