Rihanna Talks 'Man Down' Video With BET: It's Not for Critics, It's for Fans

After taking to her Twitter to respond to the controversy surrounding her music video for single "Man Down", Rihanna did an interview with BET via phone to continue defending herself. Despite the complaint, she said her fans understood the "underlying" message. "That was really important to me. This is a story for them. It's not for the critics. It's for my fans," she stated. 


Talking further about the dramatic storyline, RiRi said, " 'Man Down' is a song about a girl who committed a murder that she regrets and is completely remorseful about it. In making that into a mini-movie or a video, we needed to go back to why it happened, because obviously she's not a cold-blooded killer...and we decided to hone in on a very serious matter that people are afraid to address." 


Insisting she never meant to create any controversy, RiRi argued that despite the complaint, "[many] girls are empowered by this [video]." She previously re-tweeted a bunch of her fans' messages which mentioned that they were inspired by the Anthony Mandler-directed music video. One of them read, "Your video means so much to me ! gives me confidence and hope to be carfeul and not mistake Bull**** for love." 


Hours later, she fired off a more direct response to the criticism. She posted in a series of tweets, "I'm a 23 year old rockstar with NO KIDS! What's up with everybody wantin me to be a parent? I'm just a girl, I can only be your/our voice! Cuz we all know how difficult/embarrassing it is to communicate touchy subject matters to anyone especially our parents! And this is why! Cuz we turn the other cheek! U can't hide your kids from society, or they'll never learn how to adapt! This is the REAL WORLD!" 


At around the same hour, her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown wrote a message which raised people's question about whom he's talking about. The "Yeah 3x" singer posted, "I never claim to be no saint but by no means am I trying to promote death, violence, and destruction with my music!" Before people linked it to the "Man Down" case, he quickly added another message, "And for all the idiots in the audience this convo wasn't for @rihanna." 


It was later known that Breezy blasted Tyler, the Creator of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. It's a response to Tyler's posting which read, "Why Is Chris Brown Talking So Much S*** About Metallica? Weird." He fueled Breezy's anger by dropping an insulting comment about his blond hair, "Ni**a Look Like A Box Of Pops." He then closed the war of words with, "@chrisbrown Do You Like Soup? Cause You're Acting Like It."