The evidence came by
way of bedding -- specifically: an identical-looking black and white
polka-dotted comforter seen in the pair’s respective photo journals, leaving
fans and critics alike to speculate once more about their seemingly on-again
relationship.
It's clear that the two have been trying to
rehabilitate their image as a couple since Brown’s scandalous assault of
Rihanna on Grammy weekend in 2009, for which he was sentenced to five years
probation and 1,400 hours of comunity service. The duo's sometimes-shrewd use
of social media as well as a recent appearance at a Los Angeles Lakers game has
certainly kept them in the news -- not that either of them need any help --
adding fuel to the firestorm over their controversial (abuser-abusee) rapport.
Sadly, all this self-serving personal effort
and grand media manipulation is a far cry from the original “power couple in
bed” scenario. I refer, of course, to John Lennon andYoko Ono, who in 1969 coordinated two well-publicized
“bed-ins” for peace. In stark opposition to the Vietnam War, John and Yoko used
their marriage and honeymoon as a tool to promote world harmony by holding
press conferences in bed for a solid week at the Amsterdam Hilton (March 25th
through March 31) and then again in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal (May
26 through June 2).
Unlike the semi-estranged/semi-devoted and
spotlight-addicted Chris and Rihanna, John and Yoko appeared together between
the sheets and made themselves available to the media and others from morning
to night. They conducted interviews, hung out with famous friends, and spoke
with curious fans, all in the name of World Peace. Lennon even wrote and sang
the song “Give Peace A Chance” during the course of their now-famous bed-ins.
While these well-publicized appearances were
made viable by the newlyweds’ celebrity and the overwhelming popularity of The
Beatles, John and Yoko weren’t taken very seriously at the time and more often
than not treated as a comic punch-line. Their controversial travails were then
duly documented in The Beatles’ hit single, “The Ballad Of John and Yoko” (and
it must be noted: the couple's whirlwind travels -- from Southhampton to Paris,
then Amsterdam, Vienna and Gibraltar -- could easily rival Rihanna's
recent "777" tour).
Regardless of the lukewarm reception to
their maudlin plea for peace, the couple managed to stay on message and
concluded that year by posting billboards in eleven cities across the world
stating “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It ... Happy Christmas From John and Yoko.”In the time since Lennon’s tragic
assassination in 1980,Yoko has continued to keep the dream alive with more
billboards, a documentary entitled Bed Peace on YouTube, a commemorative Imagine Peace
Tower in Iceland
Yes, even on the same New Year’s Day that
Chris Brown and Rihanna were playing hide-and-seek with the media and teasing
their ambivalent -- and many might say unhealthy -- relationship with tweets
and Instagram photos, Yoko Ono placed yet another full-page
ad in the New York Times saying
only, “Imagine Peace.”
That's not to say that Breezy and RiRi, as
each is affectionately called, don't have their causes. Chris Brown recently
launched his Symphonic Love Foundation while Rihanna has contributed her
voice to many charities, from organizations that fight cancer to those that
benefit sick children and others in need.And, even while separated by four-plus
decades, one could imagine the chorus to “The Ballad Of John and Yoko” even
applying to Chris and Rihanna -- at least the line when Lennon sang,
"Christ you know it ain't easy / You know how hard it can be / The way
things are going / They're going to crucify me."
But where John and Yoko showed us all that
there’s a better way to use celebrity than simply to promote one’s self, it
seems the contemporary couple -- with its instant access to tens of millions --
has a lot to learn.