I was stunned when I first saw a video taped testimony by pop artist and former B2K member Raz-B on a celebrity blog, Bossip, where he confessed to having been molested by his former manager, Chris Stokes. Indeed, Chris Stokes and his supporters have every right to, and by all means should continue challenging Raz-B’s claims if they are false.

In the meantime, by going public Raz-B has now become susceptible to intense scrutiny—, which as a fellow blogger points out:

The hateful remarks which questioned the young man’s sexuality and/or his willingness to participate in the acts, reflected a lack of sensitivity to such matters that is not uncommon in the black community.

In my opinion, insensitivity or unwillingness to address child molestation extends beyond black communities. Consider for example, cases involving Catholic priests where parishioners often vilified a young man for sullying the image of their beloved priests and churches. Differences in relationships between Catholic priests and their adolescent altar boys and music impresarios and their young male ingénues are slight. In both cases, the adult wields an extraordinary amount of power because quite often the young man’s parents have conceded their child’s well-being to this caretaker.

One reason why derogatory comments are commonplace when men who have been sexually abused go public is that these comments are part of the lingua franca of American life. That it is no longer clear what came first, the humorous water cooler jokes about predatory priests, or standup comedy routines alluding to them, reveals the degree to which such humor is par for the course. An ugly combination of homophobia and patriarchy often masking itself as a child’s best interest represents one reason why predatory sexual behavior and homosexuality are often grouped together, which is an incredibly tragic occurrence when one considers that heterosexuality rarely faces similar scrutiny when men rape or molest women.

Boy bands are another group riddled with speculation around homophobia and illicit behavior between men and boys, a notation that partially explains how I somewhat fell into the very trap I have just denounced. At the risk of drawing homosexuality and child molestation together again, I cannot help comparing the different fates that have befallen Raz-B and Lance Bass upon making their respective revelations.

Both men were members—but not the main stars of—highly successful boy bands, B2K and Nsync respectively. In 2006 when Lance Bass announced to the world that he was gay last year he found an awaiting public via People Magazine to comfort him and praise him for his bravery, and as noted by his autobiography’s debut on the New York Times’s bestsellers list, a reading public ready to mull over his narrative. In all facets Bass’s coming out was carefully handled so that he would not stray beyond the mainstream base he had cultivated as a member of Nsync.

On the contrary, Raz-B’s declaration has circulated along youtube and the same blog site that only a week earlier broadcast a video by a woman claiming to be an ex-lover of rapper Remy Ma. This is not an indictment of the blog, but rather it iterates a point about the lower frequencies on which black “celebrities” often find themselves treading.

Additionally, instead of finding any form of solace upon his revelation, Raz-B’s narrative has now become saturated with allegations of gang-involvement and intimidation tactics, which resulted in the following declaration by a member of Raz-B’s inner circle, “Chris stokes is like a gay version of Suge Knight.” A comment that a few years ago would have been a throwaway line in a Starr and Buccwild skit on Hot 97 reveals another sordid layer in this complex situation.

Rendering and then proving allegations of sexual abuse is very different from publicly acknowledging one’s homosexuality. What strikes me in comparing these two incidents is that both Raz-B and Bass were making appeals. Each seemed to believe that a crucial element of their life stories had been repressed in public, and by going public not only could they each be more open in public, but also that their openness would serve as an inspiration for others to not remain silent. Unfortunately, for Raz-B, and even more so for the young men and women who are his ardent fans, everything that has manifested upon his disclosure threatens to further arrest the willingness of child who has been or is a victim of sexual abuse to come forward.

As soon as I saw this video on IA's facebook page it immediately appealed to my affinity for the Naija diaspora and knew that I had to share it with the world.