Suffice it to say…Mo’Kelly’s phone was BLOWING up, text messages galore…wondering the obvious: “would Mo’Kelly speak about El DeBarge’s performance at the BET Awards?”
Number one…Mo’Kelly doesn’t watch the BET Awards, because Mo’Kelly doesn’t watch BET. Haven’t done so in years. Number two, Mo’Kelly has no personal grudge against El. The only time Mo’Kelly had anything to say about El was when El emailed Mo’Kelly, got arrested or both.
El DeBarge performing at the BET Awards isn’t exactly news. But just so y’all will stop emailing, texting and calling asking…Mo’Kelly is publicly noting he’s aware.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDVzW6oF12U]
The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published weekly at The Huffington Post and www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse…as well as entertain. The Mo’Kelly Report is syndicated by Blogburst. For more Mo’Kelly, https://mrmokelly.com. Mo’Kelly can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes all commentary.
8 responses to “Yes, Mo’Kelly is Aware El DeBarge Performed at BET Awards”
Well Damn!! El Debarge is back. The performance was amazing. I was LMAO after trey performed and looked a damn fool up on that stage. He knows 40yo El showed OUT!
Thanks MO, I'm glad I'm not alone in my personal ban on BET!!
Mr. Mo, I agree with your basic platform… once a celebrity is convicted of a crime, especially domestic abuse, his character comes into question and his story is fair game. But people are making erroneous comparisons between the public's feelings about El DeBarge as opposed to its "support" of White entertainers, such as Charlie Sheen and Robert Downey Jr, who also have multiple arrests and incarcerations under their belts. I think that both Sheen and Downey also got a LOT of negative press and public scrutiny for their crimes and arrests. But it was HOLLYWOOD that allowed those guys to remain in the entertainment industry, because they knew people would continue to PAY to see these guys in movies. As a singer/musician, El DeBarge is also very talented and he and his family have left a real and lasting mark on the music industry. In Hollywood, their only real concern is how BANKABLE he is and will be in the future. IT was great to see El DeBarge featured on the BET Awards show, and he did a great job. He did his time and I hope he learned his lesson, and I hope he's clean now and that other doors will open for him.
Jakki8…I FULLY agree with you. The truth of the matter is that the reason people like Robert Downey Jr. have had a second chance at stardom has everything to do with someone PROVIDING the opportunity for him to succeed. Downey Jr. was RIDICULED INCESSANTLY for all of his problems. Charlie Sheen is clowned day after day after day. Still being clowed with each Mercedes he totals. They do not receive ANY breaks in the press. But they have received professional breaks and the media or the ridicule these celebrities endure in the media have nothing to do with Charlie Sheen or Downey Jr. getting another career break.
That's more a function of Hollywood and African-Americans not running Hollywood. Music, TV or film.
I promise you, if El DeBarge comes with a hit on his new CD in the fall…he's back on top as that is all the music industry cares about. Use Whitney Houston as the example. She was given another chance…she failed. Her previous demons were too much to overcome in a talent and relevance sense. If she succeeded, she would've likely been on tour with Maxwell or Jill Scott in some superstar summer tour. Didn't turn out that way.
If El DeBarge remains clean and dwells within his gifts…more power to him. To your point, he would've now learned his lesson and will avoid all those things which derailed him. In a way, I would say for me…mission accomplished. If in El's equation of life I stand as a reminder of a time in his life in which he never wishes to return…then Mo'Kelly did his job. And I mean that with all seriousness. It's not about "taking credit" but it is about entertainers "taking responsibility."
If El never takes another hit or never hits another woman…how is the negative publicity (here or elsewhere) a bad thing? It is inextricably linked to one's rehabilitation. People don't stop doing drugs or engaging in aberrant behavior if there is no downside.
Talent is fleeting in nature. Maybe El's back on track. We shall see. Anyone familiar with addiction knows that it's a lifelong battle. It only takes a momentary lapse to send one back to the very beginning. This is El's moment, I have no desire to take from it.
I loved the El performance. I especially loved his commitment to the falsetto.
I was vaguely disturbed by the Chris Brown thing, and by the end of it I was resenting his blatant attempt to leverage the world's righteous love of an epic talent, in an effort to repair his own rightly obliterated reputation.
Some may have seen it as a genuine plea for redemption, but to me such nakedness is its own worst witness: a person truly penitent would be embarrassed to make a display such as what I saw.
I'm not saying Chris Brown isn't sorry, and I'm not saying those weren't real tears.
I'm just saying something about the whole thing disturbed me. Celebrity has its creepy side.
Hi again Mr. Mo! I just want to say that I think it is SO cool that you read and respond to so many of your readers' posts. That is really so refreshing… because it is so infuriating that celebrity bloggers write insane (unsubstantiated) stuff about famous people and then just LEAVE their venomous information hangin' out there for people to comment on… with no accountability, no follow up, and no acknowledgement of responses from their audience members. I know that most of us are not connected to celebrities (like you are), so any comments we make are just thoughts and opinions, and the celebrities could care less what we have to say. But I'm glad you do! Keep up the excellent work. I'll keep checkin your site to see what you're talking about.
Thank you Jakki8. I will say that I do take pride in NOT posting editorials and simply remaining "on high," unwilling to discuss it with readers. I always found it to be personally distasteful. It's a blog, meaning there's no reason I shouldn't or couldn't interact with readers. And yes, you're correct, it's unusual for writers to do so. But I think it's good to interact with people and hear their perceptions and arguments and in effect learn from one another.
Amen! 🙂