Author: Jonathan McKee

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There’s a lot of hype this week following the “purity bashing” and “slut bashing” that went on at the MTV Video Music Awards this past Sunday night.

If you missed the craziness, David and I summed it all up in our Post VMA Thoughts article Monday.

Basically, the host of the show, British comic Russell Brand, bashed purity all night, using the Jonas Bros as the main target of his jests. Then Jordin Sparks snapped back with a few thoughts of her own, defending purity pledges and ending with, “Not every guy and girl wants to be a slut.”

Now we’ve seen a myriad of articles and blogs chiming in on the aftermath. OMG! Yahoo reports:

The Jonas Brothers have no beef with Russell Brand after he mocked their virginity on Sunday’s 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.

“For us it’s cool to see that he recognizes we are gentlemen,” Nick Jonas told BBC’s Radio 1.

Sparks says that she wishes she would have worded things differently, but doesn’t regret that she said something. Hollywood Insider gives the scoop:

Attending the show for the first time, the American Idol winner went off-script after being agitated by host Russell Brand’s repeated mocking of the Jonas Brothers’ promise rings. “It’s something I feel strongly about,” she tells EW.com. “I wish I would’ve worded it differently — that somebody who doesn’t wear a promise ring isn’t necessarily a slut — but I can’t take it back now. It was a split-second thing, and it came out kind of wrong. Still, I don’t regret it.”

I don’t regret that she said it either. Her comments can’t be torn out of context. She stood up after 90 minutes of crude jokes, sexual references and racy songs… her comments were the lone voice siding with purity (because no one else spoke up). Her message had to be that polarized to even break through the smoke. It didn’t insinuate that people who aren’t virgins are sluts at all. It communicated that those who were making it light that night probably were sluts.

It was a risky move for Sparks. It wasn’t a popular opinion to verbalize. It was the highlight of the show.

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Last week we prepped you for the MTV Video Music Awards show that aired last night, one of the most reflective and predictive youth culture barometers of the year. This year, British comic Russell Brand was the host… and I guess he was intimidated by the purity pledge of the Jonas Bros.

The Jonas Bros are not only the hottest thing to arrive to the tween world since Miley, they actually have a pretty clean slate. Last night Brand ridiculed the Jonas Brothers’ public stance on sexual purity. All three of these pastor’s kids wear a promise ring and have vowed to remain celibate until marriage.

In his opening remarks, the British funnyman pointed out to the audience,

“In case you are unaware, each of the Jonas Brothers does wear a tiny ring as a mark of their commitment to God. I’d take it a little bit more seriously if they wore it on their genitals. And also, it is a little bit ungrateful, cause they could literally have sex with any woman that they want…they’re just not gonna do it. That’s like Superman just deciding not to fly and to go everywhere on a bus. Bless em, though, them lads.” 

The jesting went on throughout the evening, until American Idol icon Jordin Sparks hit the stage and had a chance to retort. All these details and more in this week’s Youth Culture Window article on our website.