When you hear about a celebrity being accused of rape or other sexual impropriety, do you assume that something probably occurred, or do you make no assumption?

Long ago, I figured they were probably guilty. But there have been so many false accusations or cases that just couldn’t be proven that it has tempered my thinking. Especially with wealthy people, there are always those that want to try scamming for a payday. It isn’t even that the celebrity is entirely innocent, just that it may not be the crisis it is being accused of being.

This is the huge drawback to the #MeToo movement. It opened up a flood gate of people suddenly coming forward with things that may or may not have happened 5, 10, 20, 40 years before. It might be true, but it is impossible to prove for the most part.

With the Garth Brooks case, what if the women involved actually initiated some sort of relationship with him and then claimed it was non-consensual? In today’s world, they are to be believed and the guy is suddenly supposed to prove his innocence. It’s a bad situation for our society to be in when we are down to having to prove your innocence.

These days, I wait to see what is being accused, wait to hear the stories on both sides, and then put them through the smell test.

I make no assumption unless the alleged incident happened more than three months ago.

I was googling and I found a discussion about Brooks. They were saying that what he has for him is that after the alleged rape occurred, the woman continued to work for him for years. I am guessing her argument about that is that she needed the work. They said she went to the ob/gy after the rape, so I am thinking they would want to see the records from that. They were also saying that perhaps there wasn’t enough to charge him with a crime, because so much time has passed and probably other reasons.

If there were texts, I am guessing those could be found even if they were deleted, although I am not sure how long ago in time that can go back.

I’m not defending him, nor am I saying he did something wrong, just pointing out what I learned.

The people discussing it were comparing it to the crimes of Harvey Weinstein. Of course, every case is different and the state that it occurred in probably has different laws as far as proof goes.

As a rape survivor who had close friends who didn’t believe me, or they just didn’t want to because the rapist was a friend, I will always side with the accuser. I didn’t tell anyone the second time I was raped a few years later because of my first experience.

There are thousands more women who don’t speak up than there are false accusations because of how women/girls are treated when they do speak up.

I would say that yes, I assume something probably occurred. The reason being that if someone is claiming to have been raped or molested or otherwise sexually violated, it is less likely that they are simply making it up and that there is some truth it. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t those who lie about such things. If evidence comes out showing that something did not occur or can never be proven, then I accept it. But I assume that people who are making these claims are probably telling the truth, since it seems to be that they are more often than not. I’m not sure that for me, the accused being a celebrity has much to do with it. Though I can think of a few examples of people close to me telling me they were sexually violated, and celebrities were not involved, but I certainly had no reason to doubt what they were telling me.

I’m a follower of the “where there’s smoke there’s fire” theory. Which translates to “yep, he probably did it”.

Sure, it isn’t foolproof, but more often than not, the allegation turns out to be true.

Note: this pertains to adults. I need more proof if the complainer is a high school or college girl.

Rich people are evil in one way or another. Yes, I believe the accusers.

Jeez @Blackberry, generalize much?

The incidence of false accusations are so low, the SA probably did occur. Whether it’s the next day or 20 years from the incident, I believe the victim. There are so many reasons for a victim not to report an assault, I don’t blame some for not immediately reporting it.

I make an assumption using my own bias. For example after reading Woody Allen’s book, my guess is Mia Farrow, her daughter and Ronan made untrue accusations.

For that matter, Al Franken was treated horribly and unjustly for his supposed misdeeds.

@elbanditoroso I read somewhere that Al Franken is sorry now that he resigned so quickly, without trying to fight for his side.

I assume something happened but try not to pass judgement. But I believe Garth cheated on his first wife and another wouldnt be too surprising. Aging star plus ego, big busted makeup artist sending titty pics for him to pleasure himself too. Then he wanted more than just dirty texts and pics.
Hate to say it, as I am a fan, he likely is a creep.
And we all knew about Diddy, he just got away with it and thought he was untouchable with the NDA’s.

@KNOWITALL What I am thinking about is for the spouse, how hard it is to stand by your man and then when the shit hits the fan, to do a public forgiveness or to leave him and have a messy divorce, all in the public spotlight.

As for Diddy, last night on the news they talked about his court appearance, and how difficult he is saying it is for him with the jailhouse food. To that, I say “awwwww” with my bottom lip out lol.

I have always wondered how much the spouse is aware of, @jca2. I have no facts to back this up, but my gut feel is that the spouse often knows what’s going on even if the rest of the world isn’t aware of it.

@elbanditoroso Add to that, that celebrities have a lot of time on the road, away from home. When the cat is away, the mice will play.

@jca2 His firat wife said he was a serial cheater and would disappear for days at a time. I also read from this accuser he has a large penis, liked threesomes, etc.. None of which is proof of course but if hes a freak, I’m sure Trisha knew it. Doesnt mean she condoned it outsidw the marriage, of course. I’m anxiously awaiting her response to all this.

Me too @Knowitall. I only really know her from the cooking show on Food Network but i know she talks about him in the fondest terms.

When Bill Cosby was first accused, I was all up in arms about it. Not him! He’s America’s dad. I learned my lesson. I’ll wait for the evidence from then on.

For a lot of reasons, one being I am a former LEO, my first instinct is to protect the alledged “victim,” and bring in the accused for investigation.

My life experiences, have shown me (sadly,) that there are two seperate groups, BOTH disgusting.
There are actually rapists, and degrees of other sexual assaults, taking place. The offenders, in many cases, are repeat offenders. So. They have usually raped multiple people, before they finally get caught.

On the other hand, there ARE 100% definitely women (people,) who make false accusations.
It’s impossible to overstate how damming just a claim of sexual assault or rape, can negatively affect the accused. Guilty, or not.
There was a point, when parents seemed to be wanting their children to be raped by Michael Jackson. They were aware of his reputation, but allowed their children to go (without them) to MJ’s Neverland Ranch.
People of all genders, and regardless of their sexuality, can use the “armor” such an accusation gives them, and the leverage goes to the person who reports it first.
If a person believes they did nothing wrong to someone, they will not be expecting to one day hear otherwise. So. If you get accused, you are suddenly in a world of shit.

In America, we have a “justice system.” NOBODY, is guilty, unless they confess or are found to be guilty through the legal process. If they are NOT found guilty, in a court of law, they are not supposed to be treated as if they committed the crime.

Saying some person raped you, is an easy way to get that person treated like a rapist FOREVER.

It’s EXTREMELY important that victims report such crimes.
If nothing else, it could prevent a sexual predator from harming someone else.
The victim should not be ashamed, as long as they are telling the 100% truth.
IF the accused, is in a position of some type of power over a person, or is able to hire an excellent defense team, it CAN seem like the burden of proof, is on the victim.
The burden is on the accused. Perhaps, even if they are innocent.

It’s easy to get mad at society, for the dynamics of such situations.
Ultimately. The ones to be mad at (if one needs someone to be mad at,) are the false accusers.
They, are a large reason why there is a stigma attached to an accusation.

There ARE still times, when a woman’s choice of attire and company, can paint her as a less than credible accuser. (To say, a jury.)

Such things, are about as grey, as can be. There’s a difference in the drunk guy who grabbed a girl’s butt, and the lifelong serial rapist. But. Anything approaching the word “rape” will forever tarnish most people.

To me, rape is as bad, or worse than murder. I don’t take the crime lightly. I have violent intentions, towards sexual predators.

I think, when I first hear something, I try to hold my judgment until I have more information. Certainly, if it was not the first accusation, or there are multiple accusers, I tend to quickly side with the victim.

Part of the reason it’s SO important for victims to report such crimes immediately, is precisely because rape tests, and interviews are essential parts of a victims evidence.

Hopefully, technology will somehow prevent rapes from happening, one day.

What made me think Cosby did it, was that when I first heard about it, they said there were multiple women telling similar stories.

^Yeah. When you approach 60+ accusers, it’s hard to think otherwise.

Sadly. As with many such cases, there WERE warning signs.
People have pointed out old “comedic” material of his, where he is talking about drugging women (specifically “knockout drops,”) and there are many instances where he relayed this to the public. We just thought, I guess, it was not serious.

Hip hop, and rap songs, are FULL of lyrics depicting the mistreatment of women, if not flat out portraying women as disposable. The videos surfacing from Combs’ famous celebrity “white parties,” suggest essentially a whole rich and famous sex and drug underworld element in society.

Hindsight, makes things really clear, sometimes.

I’ll NEVER listen to another Michael Jackson song, without thinking he may have written the lyrics about homosexual pedophilia.
“Pretty Young Thing (PYT)” has a whole new meaning, if you think he’s talking about McAuley Culkin. Yet Culkin still claims, MJ was a great friend and person.

MJ was getting kids drunk and showing them pornography…

We, as a society, are ultimately the reason such things happen with the wealthy and famous.
We LET them evolve into monsters, over years/decades, and then suddenly we hear stories like these. And then, there’s a mass attempt by all involved, to distance themselves from the one who gets caught.