Welcome back to another edition of Unlearn Everything. Everybody should know the drill by now, but for those of you who are new here, this is usually the uncomfortable part of The Spectator. 

Lately, I’ve been getting really into the reality TV genre; my guilty pleasure has completely taken over. From “Survivor” to “Bad Girls Club,” I can’t seem to get enough.

If there’s one reality network that’s taken the internet by storm these days, it’s the Zeus Network. It was founded in 2018 and is a majority Black-owned business including two former Vine stars: KingBach and DeStorm Power.

For just $6.99 a month, the Zeus Network will offer you access to all kinds of reality shows, but everyone is really only watching for two things: “Baddies” and “Crazy in Love“. 

Essentially, “Baddies” evolved from being about a bunch of forty-year-old narcissists trying to reboot a dead TV show, to seeing outrageous success.  A lot of that thanks is due to Chrisean Rock. 

Chrisean Rock, Also known as “The Big Baby”, or “Rock”, had her rise to fame started because of a man with limited musical talent that decided to start an OnlyFans page. 

Jonathan Porter goes by the name Blueface, and he had a brief moment of music success in the late 2010s with hits such as “Thotiana” and “Respect My Cryppin”. 

It wasn’t too hard to predict that the money wouldn’t last.

So when the money finally dried up, Blueface rounded up a bunch of impressionable young women, moved them into his mansion and made them all compete with each other for him. 

Porter had the women do everything from tackling each other to getting Blueface’s name or face tattooed on them to stay on the show.

The girls didn’t receive a cent. They were paid in “clout” or media attention. 

Porter and Rock would eventually develop a relationship that would make headlines. 

They would go viral for getting into drunken physical altercations with each other, baby mama drama, making a fool out of themselves at interviews and throwing chairs at people’s walls. 

The toxicity of their relationship went viral, and the Zeus Network decided to capitalize on that by creating a reality show about their relationship called “Crazy In Love”.

If you’ve been through any kind of toxic or abusive relationship, I would say watching at your own discretion would be best.

Before the show, the public opinion of Rock was that of a crazy and unhinged girlfriend, everyone wants to say that they’re scared for Bluface’s life because of Rock’s violent outbursts. 

I’m not condoning any kind of abuse, I’m just saying Bluface is not a victim. 

Reactive abuse occurs when a victim lashes out at their abuser whether that’s verbal or physical, and it’s usually in public. 

Rock may be prone to some outbursts, but it’s Porter that is always keeping her liquored up while posting her on social media at her most sad, sick and vulnerable.

Since “Crazy in Love” is shot in a documentary style, the dynamics of their relationship are portrayed in a more realistic way.

After watching as much as I could stomach, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions.

Men of Jonathon Porter’s caliber, radiate the energy of a tired loser, no matter how much money or status he could have.

He is the type to refer to women as “females” alongside the term for a female dog. 

In the latest episode of “Crazy in Love,” Porter eggs on Rock and proceeds to call her a female dog, so Rock smashes a glass bottle over his head.

While Rock made the effort to get away from Porter to calm down, he followed her and continued to egg on with: 

“I didn’t want to date a man, I want to be with a “female dog”. If you want to be a man then I’ll treat you like one.”

He must’ve said that on repeat at least five times. He not only threatened her but also pointed out that he has a lot of internalized homophobic demons he needs to deal with.

Once Porter realized the constant poking and pestering wouldn’t work on Rock, he proceeded  to act like he was hurt and concussed when he was just fine berating Rock minutes ago.

Rock is still fairly young and naive if we’re being real, but why are we normalizing and idolizing a relationship with so many messed-up power dynamics? This level of toxicity is not normal. And while it makes for good TV, their relationship does serve as a concerning example to young kids.

If Rock ever comes across this I just wanna ask the girl one question: If a man encourages you to beat up his mom, is he really that much of a boss? 

Ftouhi can be reached at [email protected].