Byline: Chelle LaFleur — Tragedy in Jersey

Now, you all need to listen up good to old Chelle here. What I gotta say ain’t got squat to do with music, but it sure as shootin’ got to do with us in the music community.

Know that story of that poor college kid whose romantic fun got broadcast all over that there Internet? The kid who had to go off himself ’cause he couldn’t stand the way the whole world, free and not, could watch him gettin’ it on with someone else?

I’ma gonna stand up right here and now and say this is the biggest tragedy Chelle’s seen in a long time. It’s even a bigger tragedy than that hottie Mitchell Voss losin’ his heart to an artist type and takin’ himself off the market. It’s that big.

There’s one thing that’s started happenin’ about this story that’s got Chelle all up in arms. That’s them people who’re speakin’ out. They’re so quick to make this all about how we treat gays and lesbians, they done gone and forgot how this ain’t just about one certain group of folk. No sirree, this here issue of hidden cameras and YouTube postin’s somethin’ that affects every last one of us and it don’t matter if you be a boy who likes boys, or a girl who thinks girls are better’n boys.

Listen up, boys and girls. This is bigger’n one piece of America. Heck, it’s bigger’n America. With this Internet thing so big and makin’ so much of a dent in that lifestyle we used to have before it went and came along, these issues, they now involve every last person on this planet. Think about it. You wanna see people in Borneo? You can. Want to see people in Cornpatch, USA? You can.

Look around for a sec or two. You’ll see lots of folk postin’ videos of themselves feelin’ good. The difference here is that them folk? They knew what was the skinny. They knew they’d be putting their private parts out there for all-a us to ogle. They was cool with that.

This kid in Jersey? And prob’ly way more like him?

Alls they wanted to do was shut a door and have some time where they could kick back and not worry about nothin’ except what feels good and what feels better. They wanted it between theyselves, where love and lust and what feels good belongs.

Keep that in your minds the next time you think it’s cool to be this stupid. None-a you respectable metal heads would want video of you in a suit and tie, walkin’ into church on a sunny Sunday with Mom and Dad, would you? You got a rep to protect, right?

Don’t matter if you’re out of your black and into a zoot soot or if you be wantin’ some private time to see if this person you lustin’ for can be a forever partner. If you don’t want it broadcast, you don’t need to stress that it might be.

You heard it first, and you heard it here: Chelle don’t broadcast your private life on this here Trumpet paper. Don’t be broadcastin’ others’ privates anywhere, yourselves. You’re cool enough to read what Chelle’s gotta say. Prove it.