Should Nickelodeon Stand by Chris Brown?

Despite the fact that he is facing felony charges for allegedly attacking his girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown is still in the running to win two Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 28. And parents aren't happy about it. A group called TwitterMoms created an online petition protesting the 19-year-old's nominations for Favorite Male Singer and Favorite Song ("Kiss Kiss"). Although there are 3,771 signatures (and counting) requesting that Nickelodeon remove Brown from the Kids' Choice ballot, the cable network says it is standing by the artist. But is this decision sending a bad message to kids?

"Like all our KCA nominees, Chris Brown was nominated by kids several months ago based on his work as a performer," explains a Nickelodeon rep. "And the kids who vote will ultimately decide who wins the category."

Hmmm ... so Viacom is passing the buck and letting kids make the judgment call for them? Even though Chris' PR peeps got on the singer's MySpace blog -- "Hey fans, Vote for Chris!" -- on the same day he was being arraigned on charges of assault, today's tweens are pretty savvy. I'm sure they've followed the Chris Brown/Rihanna drama as closely as adults have and are smart enough to realize that they probably shouldn't reward Brown with a coveted orange Blimp trophy. What do you think?