While Brown’s anger issues are certainly a topic for conversation, I just have to wonder: Where was this tough line of questioning when Charlie Sheen was on ABC? After all, the actor also pleaded guilty to assault charges on ex-wife Brooke Mueller and according to the police reports taken that night, it wasn’t the first time Sheen had become physically violent with her, previously throwing her to the ground and causing a head injury severe enough to require medical assistance. (Neither Mueller nor Sheen reported the incident at the time.)  And that wasn’t the only incident. As Anna Holmes reported in the New York Times, Sheen’s battery sheet — only against women — is a mile long:

In 1990, he accidentally shot his fiancée at the time, the actress Kelly Preston, in the arm. (The engagement ended soon after.) In 1994 he was sued by a college student who alleged that he struck her in the head after she declined to have sex with him. (The case was settled out of court.) Two years later, a sex film actress, Brittany Ashland, said she had been thrown to the floor of Mr. Sheen’s Los Angeles house during a fight. (He pleaded no contest and paid a fine.)…

Last October, another actress in sex films, Capri Anderson, locked herself in a Plaza Hotel bathroom after Mr. Sheen went on a rampage. (Ms. Anderson filed a criminal complaint but no arrest was made.) And on Tuesday, Ms. Mueller requested a temporary restraining order against her former husband, alleging that he had threatened to cut her head off, “put it in a box and send it to your mom.” (The order was granted, and the couple’s twin sons were quickly removed from his home.) “Lies,” Mr. Sheen told People magazine.

And yet when Sheen was doing his crazy-ass publicity tour, these items were barely touched upon, with interviewers like Piers Morgan and Andrea Channing not questioning Charlie’s claims that he’s never hit a woman. (Despite court orders and guilty charges that say otherwise.)

This comparison did not escape Chris Brown, who tweeted directly after the “GMA” incident:

Brown later deleted the tweet.

Look, all domestic violence is terrible, and celebrities are not above being held accountable for their actions. But what a dark double-standard that Chris must continually answer for his actions, unable to be known as anything other than “the guy who beat up Rihanna,” while Sheen gets a free pass, possibly because none of the women he hurt were famous enough to bother caring about.

Ah, the old “You’re such a homo” retort. Always a classic. Brown soon followed it up with another charmer: “Tell me this @razb2k!! Why when the money was coming in u won’t complaining about getting butplugged! #homothug!!!” [Update: Though Brown insisted on Twitter Wednesday that "I ain't deleting my tweet either!" he has in fact done just that, likely around the same time he posted a few new, not Raz-B-baiting messages around noon Thursday. He did however leave up his earlier tweet that noted, "when I need tips on how to demolish my career I'll call ya!!!!!" Don't worry, Brown, you're doing a stellar job demolishing your career all by yourself.]

Brown’s snide “dick in da booty” remarks would be disgusting directed at anyone, gay or straight, regardless of the motivation. But what makes them particularly reprehensible is that Brown was referring to Raz B’s very public allegations that his former manager Chris Stokes and label mate Marques Houston had molested him when he was a preteen.

Raz-B first told his story three years ago, then mysteriously recanted it in a terse “the allegations are not true” message soon after.  He has however recently gone back to his original version of events — with harrowingly explicit corroboration from label mate Quindon Tarver.  So for Brown to insist to his Twitter followers that “i love all my gay fans and this immature act is not targeted at you!!!!” and that “I’m not homophobic! He’s just disrespectful!!!” after glibly telling Raz B “merry christmas. i just gave you 20 thousand more followers.. u shouldve did this first instead of telling the world you got raped” is beyond ignorant – it’s downright vicious.

Raz B certainly has many miles to go toward enlightenment himself. Throughout his sex abuse allegations he has been quick to note, “I’m not gay, I’m a real man.” And in his tweet war, he’s certainly dished out plenty of vile stuff himself, asking Brown, “Do you hit your boyfriend [songwriter] @andre_merritt like you do your women?” and accusing him of being “homosexual on the low!” before throwing in the perfunctory, “i want to apologize for fostering homophobia tweets.. this has nothing to do against my followers…”

Thanks so much, both of you. Glad you cleared up that when you accused each other of being paid for sex and getting it “on the low” you weren’t being homophobic. Who could take offense at that? You’re certainly not making light of sex abuse either, or moronically confusing being molested with being homosexual. And Raz B, your brother is surely not living up to every dumb, dangerous gangsta cliche by threatening to “put my motherfucking pistol” in Brown’s mouth.  Nice work, guys – you’ve managed to broadcast your idiocy to the world, 140 characters at a time, and proven that hip-hop wars no longer need be conducted exclusively outside of Hot 97.

But it’s Brown who emerges as the winner, class A creep division, in this whole ugly fiasco, for being the man who took the understated observation that he “disrespected” the woman he battered as a excuse to mock someone for saying he’d been sexually abused. He gets extra points for whining, “its wack as fuck that everybody can bash me… but soon as i defend myself its world war 3. I TAKE SHIT FROM everybody…” Apparently Chris Brown’s notion of defending himself is accusing someone of not sufficiently “complaining” while his alleged molestation was going on. Right, because the only argument older than that “You’re so gay” tripe is the enduring one-two of “You must have been asking for it” and “You don’t act enough like a victim to be one.” They’re both so handy — especially among perpetrators. And while Chris brown may have a freshly minted certificate saying he’s no longer a domestic batterer, he clearly still knows plenty about the way an abuser’s mind works.

Given the potent, and seemingly relevant, lyrics — looking in the mirror, making a change, yada yada — it’s hard not to see it as an act of contrition for brutally beating up his girlfriend. The question on folks’ minds, though, seems to be whether it was a genuine display of emotion. A poll on the Los Angeles Times’ website asks: “Was Chris Brown faking it at the BET Awards?” Most viewers have responded that he was genuinely choked up thinking about the King of Pop’s death, but the second most popular answer is “Chris was 100% faking a breakdown to get sympathy.” Somehow, I doubt he’s that good of an actor. The real question, in my mind, is whether the display of emotion was rooted in remorse for what he did or because he was reminded of how far he has fallen in his quest to become the next Michael Jackson.

Regardless, it certainly does seem to be getting him sympathy. A commenter on MTV.com writes: ”This young man has suffered ENOUGH. Just let him move on and remember that there is not one amongst us who has never made a mistake in their life.” (Well, there are mistakes and then there are mistakes.) The Washington Post blog Celebritology asks, “Is it time to forgive Chris Brown?” I’m not sure of general public sentiment — beyond a couple informal online polls — but it does seem like this is the closest he’s going to get to a second chance. The question is what he’s going to do with it.