Last night, I got a call about the news that Chris Kelly, aka Mac Daddy from Kris Kross, was found dead. My heart dropped.
Growing up, I was the biggest Kris Kross fan ever – even if I never wore my clothes backwards. I mean, I tried, but when I walked out of my room wearing my pants and my Florida Marlins Starter jacket backwards, my mother looked at me like I had two heads, and said she would slap the black off of me if I didn’t go in and fix my clothes.
“This ain’t television boy!”
“Jump,” “Warm It Up,” “I Missed The Bus,” “The Bomb,” “Tonight’s The Night”… I had all of their albums. They were my age, and they were dope! But then something happened. They got older. They were almost legal, and they just never figured out how to make the transition from kid superstars to adult rappers.
In 2009, Chris Kelly was in the park chilling, when a fan asked him to take a picture. He gladly obliged. The next thing he knows, the whole entire internet clowned him! They cracked jokes about his hair, started rumors that he had cancer and he was the butt of all internet jokes for a couple of weeks after that.
I was living in Atlanta at the time and my colleague Michelle from Straight From The A caught up with the rapper. He told everyone he doesn’t have cancer, but he did suffer from alopecia, a disease where people lose their hair. He was hurt, pissed, embarrassed, but still himself.
“People act like they never seen a person with a bald spot before.” ~ Chris Kelly
Then fast forward to earlier this year, right before the So So Def 20th Anniversary Concert. A new photo of Kris Kross surfaced and people noticed that Mac Daddy was still wearing his clothes backwards.
Guess what they did? They bullied him. Twitter, Instagram, the blogs, we all bullied this man! He was the butt of internet jokes for the next couple of days – again.
The internet can be harsh; the internet judges everyone. But it’s time to stop. The internet should be a place where when we see someone who isn’t just like us, we should offer to help. Offer support. Connect. Instead we bully the celebs from our past, present and future.
Beyonce is bashed for not doing Blue Ivy’s hair. Ciara is bashed for not being Rihanna. Keyshia Cole is bashed for not being a Destiny’s Child fan, but when something tragic happens, we forget it all.
We send our condolences and prayers for a celebrity, not a PERSON, who may have died tragically – who may not have ever known just how loved he truly was in this world.
So my prayer is going to be that we use Chris Kelly’s death to stop celebrity bullying. Stop tearing down our entertainers from the past because they are legends, pioneers, and people. Human beings like you and I.
Rest in peace, Chris Kelly. Despite all of the jokes, know that we’ll miss you bro and you’ll never be forgotten.
~ Blog Xilla Follow Me On Twitter
Xilla is the Sr. Entertainment Editor for GlobalGrind.com as well as CEO of the number 1 relationship blog BlogXilla.com/M2TB.com. He has been featured in XXL, The Source, Essence, LA Times and is considered one of the premiere bloggers in the industry. Follow him on twitter @BlogXilla
