Reverend Run and Justine Simmons on The Wendy Williams Show

Recently, I stumbled upon an online conversation criticizing Reverend Run's treatment of his wife, Justine Simmons, on the Wendy Williams show. Formerly one of the members of the popular rap group Run DMC, Joseph Simmons, or Rev. Run as he is affectionately known, and his family are stars of the MTV reality series Run's House. Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America's Parents is Rev. Run's third book, but it is the first one he has co-authored with his wife, Justine. The Simmons' appeared together on the Wendy Williams show to promote this latest project. The conversation that I witnessed online revolved around a clip of their appearance on Williams' show where Justine and Williams were involved in a conversation about hair weaves. Justine began to show Williams where her real hair ended and her hair weave began. Her husband, obviously annoyed by the conversation, pushed her arm away when she began to separate her hair and offer the camera a close up shot of how her weave had been styled into her real hair.

The interaction was a bit abrupt, but Rev. Run explained that he wasn't on the show to discuss hair weaves, rather that he had been given a million dollar book deal and was there to promote the book and not his wife's hair weave. Justine agreed with him and the conversation returned to the book's promotion.

People discussing the incident online, however, made suggestions of him being emotionally abusive toward his wife, of her being too submissive to him and a host of other insults toward their marriage. Surprised by these allegations, I viewed the clip on MyFox Dallas to see for myself if the Rev. had, in fact, lost cool points by being abusive to his wife on air. What I saw, however, was a man who was annoyed at the "girl talk" going on between the two women present while he was there for other business. While he could have been a bit more gentle in his interruption and he probably got an earful telling him as much on his way home, I didn't see an abusive husband. What I did see was a human being, imperfect, caught up in the moment and wanting to discuss his book without his wife showing close ups of her weave tracks to the entire viewing audience.

I was impressed that Justine didn't melt down on air or tell her husband off like so many in the conversation online were suggesting that she should have done. Instead, she quickly agreed with her husband and returned the conversation's focus to the book. It's more than probable that they discussed this matter later and it's more than probable that Rev. Run agreed with her that he could have handled it better. While I'm not privy to their private conversations, what I see when I watch the show is a a couple who love one another and a couple who is able to communicate beyond the errors and foibles of their relationship.

By the same token, the people in this conversation have no insight into their personal lives either. While they're free to assume a different scenario, I do wonder how it is that people draw such negative conclusions with so little evidence. It's a sad state of affairs that we live in a day and age where these type of rumors abound on the web, which we sometimes forget is real life especially when we're discussing the lives of real people.

So, what do you think? Was Rev. Run out of line and do his actions suggest emotional abuse? I don't mind if you disagree with my position, so feel free to let me know what's on your mind.