If you don’t pay much attention to pop culture or you were too busy for social media over the past few days, you probably missed the video of Corey Feldman’s performance on the Today Show. I’ll try to recap it for you, but it really is one of those things that you have to see for yourself. Apparently Corey Feldman has spent the past 10 years working on his new album Angelic 2 the Core. During that time, he has also been saving young women by taking them under his (angel) wings to live in his “Feldmansion” where he charges men upwards of $250 to spend time with these women.
Here’s what he had to say about his *cough* charity on Today:
“That’s why I created Corey’s Angels as a way to help girls who were like lost and needed to find their way to get their opportunities, their dreams and make them realities. And that’s what we do, we try to help them make their realities their dreams.”
After being introduced by host Billy Bush, Corey and his Angels performed “Go 4 It,” an odd EDM-esque song from his album. I don’t even know how to describe it. First of all, I guess he was supposed to be dressed as the Grim Reaper which…okay, if you say so. His “angels” were dressed in white, complete with halos and wings and thigh high stockings. Basically your standard “slutty angel” Halloween costume. Corey’s dance moves fell somewhere between Michael Jackson (did you know Corey was friends with MJ? I mean he only mentions it in every. single. interview he has ever done) and Pinocchio.
And then the song starts. To be honest, I couldn’t even listen to the whole thing. It was awful. Go ahead and check it out if you haven’t already.
It didn’t take long before “Corey Feldman” showed up on Twitter’s trending topics and then Facebook’s. Most of the comments were far from favorable. People, including me, were mocking his performance and laughing at how ridiculous it was. Corey responded with a Facebook live video, now deleted, in which he and his “maingel” (you can’t make this shit up) cried about how mean everyone is being to them.
“We just wanted to tell everybody that, like, it’s been really painful,” Feldman said in the video. “We put ourselves out there and we did the best that we could. And, like, I’ve never had such mean things said about me. Like constantly.”
“It was a song, okay? It wasn’t that weird. I’m sorry if it’s not good enough for you, but you don’t have to beat us up. I just want to say that, like, why is it okay to, like, publicly shame us? … I don’t understand … It’s, like, not PC to, like, say somebody is fat or somebody is white or somebody is black or somebody is yellow or green or if they have a short leg or if they have a missing finger. Like we can’t talk about these things. But it’s okay to bash Corey Feldman and the Angels.”
He went on to talk about how he and his angels (it’s so hard to keep typing that without rolling my eyes every time) were so upset that they couldn’t even get out of bed and were afraid to lead the house. Oh give me a break. Sure, he has a point about how it’s wrong to call people freaks and weirdos and losers, but I don’t have any sympathy for Corey Feldman. I don’t even care if that makes me a cold-hearted bitch, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been accused of being one.
But before you make that decision, let me explain why I’m not going to feel sorry for him or change my opinion about his performance or his work in general. First of all, having a shitty childhood and a drug problem does not give anyone a lifelong pass to act like an entitled brat. Corey Feldman expects everyone to love everything he does because he’s Corey Feldman, 80s movie star. Nope, not even going to pretend to like his music just because I happen to love Lost Boys. He’s had a lot of opportunities, including this Today Show performance because of who he is. Nobody is required to like his music and saying you don’t like it is not bullying.
Now here’s the main reason I won’t feel sorry for him. He refuses to name the numerous people who allegedly molested him, his friend Corey Haim, and other child actors. He claims that he told the police but they didn’t do anything because they were too focused on the charges against Michael Jackson. That’s totally believable and it’s disgusting that nothing was done about it. However, Feldman’s excuse for not publicly naming this person (or people) is his need to cover his own ass.
“People are frustrated, people are angry, they want to know how is this happening and they want answers and they turn to me and they say, ‘Why don’t you be a man and stand up and name names and stop hiding and being a coward?’ I have to deal with that, which is not pleasant, especially given the fact that I would love to name names. I’d love to be the first to do it. But unfortunately California conveniently enough has a statute of limitations that prevents that from happening. Because if I were to go and mention anybody’s name I would be the one that would be in legal problems and I’m the one that would be sued.”
As far as I’m concerned, he is protecting child molesters and putting other children at risk because he’s protecting his own “career” and his financial status. So apparently he’s only interested in protecting “lost” women who look good in lingerie, but who cares about vulnerable children, amirite?
So, yeah, he had a fucked up childhood. Welcome to the club, dude. Yes, some of his best friends have died. But none of that means that we’re all supposed to just coddle him and blindly support him and not criticize him. You think anyone is out there giving me a free pass because of what I’ve been through or who I’ve lost? Of all the people I know who have survived an abusive childhood, none of them are having anything, including a successful music career, just handed to them out of sympathy. And there are many, many bands who are busting their asses to create good music yet they’ll never get the same opportunities that Corey Feldman has. They’re busting their asses, often in low-paying jobs like food service and retail that have flexible schedules so they can schedule shows and tours. They’re putting every dime they have into recording their own music and all their spare time into creating it. Those are the people I can respect, not some 45-year-old man who has spent the past 20 years going through an emo phase while trying to squeeze everything he can out of a long-dead movie career.
Like I said on a friend’s Facebook post, Corey Feldman acts like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be Hugh Hefner or Michael Jackson, so he settled on Charlie Sheen. If he wants to get upset with someone, maybe it should be the people in his life that didn’t care enough to be honest with him or the people at the Today Show who booked him for their show knowing it would be a mess but it would get them a lot of attention.
