The simple purpose of this, layout someof the important evidence in this case in a lot less detail, because once I get going, I can write a lot and most people don’t want to read 20 pages. If you want to read a more detailed blog with the opinions of myself and some others you can read the first two blogs here and here. I know there will be a lot left out here, as there was in the other two blogs. The only way to know everything is if you have been following this case from the beginning and have seen all the manipulating, the lies, and the smear campaign Melissa headed against Nick.
What has been disturbing to me is the recent tabloid stories released with “journalists” who try to hide behind the notion that they are “advocating” for a woman abused, yet they refuse to acknowledge any of the evidence that’s come to light, which is so easy to find. I had said in my first blog that no one would be willing to write about Nick’s side, and these biased articles are proof of that.
Not telling anyone.
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“That was so much fun, huh!?” – Roommate
“I just want to go home. I’m tired. I just want to go to sleep.” – Melissa Schuman
I didn’t tell her. I didn’t even want to admit what happened was real to myself. Over the next few weeks I drew further and further from my friends and family and they noticed. I still didn’t tell anyone.
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Melissa changed her story once she made her appearance on Dr. Oz saying she told the roommate that went with her and her roommates mother, who she said suggested she take a rape kit.
This is a MAJOR change in the story. This is not something that you forget to mention. Melissa had said she spent a while writing and contemplating releasing her blog, so this was not some trivial thing you FORGET to mention. In fact, it was something she DID mention (I didn’t tell anyone) and then CHANGED to (I did tell someone).
Her friends and family who say they KNEW but still gave odd support to their supposed wife/best friends alleged abuser.
If my good friend told me she/he was raped by someone, that person would be my enemy.
Her band mate Ashley who said she knew for years is seen sitting right next to Melissa watching her praise a BSB song, and praising it herself. She does not look like someone who knows, or cares that someone in that band raped her best friend.
Her husband promoted Nick and AJ in an upbeat post when they were on lipsync battle. He said he only danced with them because he wanted to stay professional, but he has not given any excuse to why he included a picture of them on his own personal IG page stating “the boys are back” with high spirits. What husband would do that?
Her group Dream sent out a tweet in 2015 wishing Backstreet Boys a Merry Christmas and stated how much they missed them. Melissa has stated that everyone from her group knew.
Trying to portray Nick in her story as someone who was obsessive over her/changing her story.
She forgets to mention that she goes back to work with Nick in her original blog, but instead writes that he harassed her, calling her multiple times after the alleged incident. Later on Dr. Oz, she left this part out, and does mention going back to work with him claiming he acted completely normal.
She claims he only agreed to do a showcase duet with her because that way she couldn’t avoid him, forgetting that they didn’t avoid each other since they worked together right after. She also claims that he was upset she didn’t give a warm welcome to him and upset when she mentioned (out of the blue) that she had a boyfriend. A lot of her blog read like a fanfiction of her professing how Nick was feeling. If you want more details, read the first blog.
Her fangirling over Nick
Melissa stated since the moment this took place 15 years ago, she had wanted to press charges but couldn’t, there were no good feelings for her alleged abuser, she wanted to avoid him, never talk or see him again. That is why the NUMEROUS tweets involving praising and showing adoration towards Nick is SO important. Even when she tried to explain ONE of these tweets, her explanation was she “couldn’t be honest” about her negative feelings about Nick. The thing is, she sought out Nick by following him on twitter and posting various tweets about him (like the movie they worked on together and the song they recorded together). SHE was also the one who posted a picture of Nick on her IG with their song playing in the background and included words of praise for Nick about how great it was working with him and how talented he was. Who exactly was forcing her to post this? Once her story made headlines, this original IG post was deleted, BUT one fan had reposted it to her own IG showing Melissa’s IG handle. Melissa had also “liked” a tweet mentioning Nick as a “DILF” (should be noted that Melissa’s father had stated before that this was a completely fake, doctored tweet – it is not), and shown an interest in touring with Backstreet Boys when she “liked” a tweet from her group DREAM in 2015, wishing the Backstreet Boys a Merry Christmas and saying how much they missed their “touring mates”? So, you had no problem with the potential of touring with your supposed abuser, in fact “liking” the idea? Who was forcing her to do these things?
She was caught in lies more than once. While trying to explain a video where she shows sorrow for the passing of Nick’s father, the TV show Nick appeared on, Boyband, was mentioned. She had previously shown interest in being a judge on the show and explained that she had no idea he was attached to the show when she wanted to be a part of it (could have been true) and that she only found out that he was a part of it when someone on the livestream brought it up. Well, watching the livestream and reading the comments prove SHE was the one who brought it up, saying how “excited” she was about the show and asking if he (Nick) was the only judge on that. So… she clearly was the one who brought it up, and she clearly knew before the livestream that he was attached to the project. So, who was forcing her to say these things?
The second time she was caught in a lie was when she tried to explain a tweet sent out to Nick from 2012 expressing her condolences for the passing of his sister. In explanation to this tweet she said that since this was 10 years after the incident and the statues was over, she assumed he would never be held accountable and she wanted to rely on “compassion” and “forgiveness”.
It should be noted that various Melissa supporters tried to excuse this tweet FOR her, prior to her giving her reasoning, basically giving the exact same reason. It seems all these people educated Melissa on how to talk her way out of sticky situations, which may be why she thought giving this excuse would be believable. And some could say it was. But when she released her story AGAIN to Life & Style the year changed from 2002 to the correct year of 2003. People asked her about this change in the year. She said she never corrected them before because she never went to the media and they assumed the year was 2002. This Life & Style interview was from her, so she needed the correct year printed. Clearly, she forgot all about her explanation on the condolences tweet where it was 10 years after and the statues was up and she knew he would never be held accountable. So, since that’s not the actual explanation for the condolences tweet, we ask again, who forced her to send out her condolences?
These cannot be explained by feeling “empathy” (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another) for your abuser as a few Melissa supporters like to claim. The only ones that could, would have been the condolences tweet or Melissa feeling bad when Nick’s dad passed away. Remember, not only is feeling empathy for your abuser usually with a family member or close friend, it is not acommon, normal thing victims go through. Melissa herself has also proven with her own words that she has felt no empathy towards Nick from the moment the alleged abuse occurred until now.
New evidence found August 3, 2018:
New evidence was found of Melissa commenting on a Backstreet Boys Vegas performance on March 2017 from a Backstreet Boys fan page. In order to find this, she would have had to search for any of the hashtags included in the video, one of which is #nickcarter.
All the other evidence of her fangirling is laid out in the first blog.
Following her allegation, Melissa has tweeted, followed, or liked things from Nick’s ex-girlfriends and his mother.
Before her allegations, she had tweeted out to Nick’s brother Aaron in 2013 saying “Hey stranger! Hope you and the fam are doing well :)”
Melissa was caught watching the Backstreet Boys Livestream performance at Wango Tango this past June, when she previously said she was boycotting anything relating to Nick Carter.
Melissa had also stated she was boycotting American Idol and anything relating to Ryan Seacrest in support of his accuser. Ryan Seacrest was hosting this event. After Melissa was caught watching their performance with various BSB fans tweeting it out, an hour later, she retweeted their Livestream link with the comment “Numb”. So, she was so “numb” she tweeted out a link to their performance in essence giving more promotion to her alleged abuser, as well as another alleged abuser she claimed to be boycotting. Melissa was asked later who her favorite performance was of the night and she said Meghan Trainor, who performed right before Backstreet Boys. This means she knew they were going to be performing next and still decided to watch it. On top of all of this, if Melissa claims to be “numb” and sickened by watching them perform, it’s odd that just a year ago she had sought out videos of the boys and commented how great the video was and how happy she was someone shared it.
Melissa followed him willingly from room to room where there were other people present.
This can technically be put into an opinion category but something many felt necessary to include. A lot can be said about this, but I’ll try to keep it short. Now, if Nick’s goal was rape, why would he have even given her the opportunity to escape, let alone parade her around the apartment when witnesses were present (on three separate occasions). Someone who knows, and intends bodily harm to another person is not going to take unnecessary risk like that. Melissa is claiming that in a non-consensual situation, the rapist manages to (non-forcibly) transport the victim into different rooms while other people are present. In addition to that, Melissa had the perfect escape opportunity when someone knocked on the door to the bathroom, if she was so uncomfortable.
Melissa and her Christian values.
Throughout her entire blog (and even now) Melissa preaches how important her Christian values were, and how everyone else (including Nick) knew how important they were to her. However, when offered alcohol at the age of 18, she had no issues accepting.
She had also said she didn’t want to portray herself as “sexy” or sing about “provocative” music. Quite the opposite of what we’ve seen.
Makes us wonder, she might have wanted to save herself for marriage, but might have fallen into temptation, resulting in regret. (Yes, this is an opinion that I couldn’t help including).
Melissa has a history of writing “similar” things from other stories.
This similarity stuck out from Melissa’s first blog post dealing with sexual harassment in the industry, prior to the Nick allegation, not long after the Harvey Weinstein scandal made headlines.
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“I stared at myself alone in the bathroom looking at my reflection while holding the barely there fabric.” (Harvey Weinstein – sexual harassment blog)
“That’s where I saw myself, my reflection, watching myself do something that I was sicken by. Watching myself be assaulted, forced to engage in an act against my will.” (Nick blog)
“I was 18. I panicked. I freaked. I froze.” (Harvey Weinstein – sexual harassment blog)
“I went limp, turned my head to my left and decided I would just go to sleep now.” (Nick blog)
Later, she also claimed she “froze”, and often speaks of her reaction to the alleged rape in the same way as above I “froze”, I was “terrified”, I was “numb”… etc.
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Another time similarities were noticed was when she publicly accused Vincent Herbert of emotional abuse this past December when he made headlines for marital problems with Tamar Braxton. After backlash from many calling her an “opportunist”, and Tamar Braxton calling her a “thirst bucket”, Melissa tweeted out an article from a former member of Dream, Alex Chester, which was published three months prior to her tweets (September 2017).
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“#VincentHerbert is the reason I suffer PTSD when I’m in the recording studio. He verbally and emotionally abused me when I was 14 while recording Dream’s first record. Isolated us and forced us to lose weight” – Melissa’s tweet
“When Holly was recording he’d have us do laps around the recording studio in the heat of the summer.” – Melissa’s tweet
“Yep. We had to weigh in in front of him. He had me loose 20 lbs. I went from 121 to 101 lbs.” – Melissa’s tweet
“However, watching this show was enough to give me a PTSD flashback from my time spent in the pop group Dream.” – Alex Chester
“When I was in P Diddy’s Dream I worked 12-hour days, I was forced to be on an extreme diet and exercise regiment. We ran 6 miles every day on top of dancing 4-8 hours a day. My calorie intake was constantly being monitored, my waist size scrutinized, my weight daily jotted down.” – Alex Chester
“KPop‘s girl group Special K and MwE (played by Ashley Park), our producer (Vincent Herbert– Lady Gaga’s producer)pitted us against each other.” – Alex Chester
“And I know it’s probably one of the many reasons why I have an anxiety disorder and depression. To this day when I go into a recording studio I start to panic.”” – Alex Chester
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We acknowledged in my first blog that they would have similar experiences and a tough time in the industry as almost every artist has talked about at some point, and we went into further detail. However, it is strange they both experienced PTSD. PTSD from the recording studio, which Melissa does not even explain. How did the recording studio give her such an extreme disorder? It looks more like she read this piece and took bits of it to form her own “story” of traumatic abuse when the opportunity arose.
Melissa had been working on gaining notice to give a boost in her inactive career.
From auditioning to be on the Amazing Race with her husband, to celebrity Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars, Boyband, and working to get her Instagram and Twitter “verified”.
Melissa claims she doesn’t want attention from her story.
“I don’t want to be known for this. I’m an actress, I’m a singer. Who wants to be known for being raped.” – Melissa Schuman
She also claimed that when she wrote the blog, she didn’t want it to get very “big” and gain a lot of attention. She only did it to “free” herself.
Yet, not only did she appear on national television telling her story. Anytime her story fades from the spotlight she tries to find ways to give it more attention and life. Her intention looks to be the opposite of what she set out to do, “free” herself, and more about what she says it’s not, “attention”.
Does she forgive him, or does she not?
“I forgive you, I don’t want anything from you. I wish you only the best. I don’t want your money. I didn’t do this to hurt you or your family, I did this for me.”
Shortly after her appearance on Dr. Oz, when different places continued to show support for BSB and did not give Melissa any opportunities or attention, she changed her tune. She started tweeting to any place that even mentioned Nick or Backstreet Boys, claiming she was boycotting them for supporting Backstreet Boys.
In a Livestream from New Years Eve, Melissa talks about how she does not condone anyone going after Nick, because her point is “not to go after those who have abused, but to empower those who have been abused”, adding, “I’d be fine if no one said anything to him.”
Almost every action and word she’s spoken since those are a complete contradiction to what she claimed her initial intention was.
Using someone to dox/harass people supporting Nick/doing it herself.
I am not going to go into detail again on who James Hartline is, if you want to read about him, you can read my second blog or Google him. Many of us feel he was simply used by the Henschel’s as a way to harass Nick supporters and random BSB fans. People that did not even tweet directly to Melissa but had obvious public profiles showing they were fans of Nick and Backstreet Boys were targeted. They were not only called “cyber terrorists” by him, they had their public profiles, places where they worked, different personal things they engaged in online, were all shown publicly on this mans twitter. That is in addition to publicly showing their pictures and shaming their weight and looks. Melissa and her husband not only defended this man, but her husband liked and retweeted many of them, condoning his behavior. Some of these people were also targeted in their place of work where this man sent their employers various false information about them trying to get them to lose their jobs (unsuccessfully, once the employers Googled this man and his ties to Melissa).
Melissa had done something similar when she wrote her second blog “Liar,Liar,Liar” and publicly shared personal information about one Backstreet Boys fan, who had written a short blog laying out some of the questionable things in this case.
Similarly, Melissa’s father has engaged in degrading women himself.
Knowing all this, we find it laughable, hypocritical, and utterly disturbing that Melissa and her family have now started professing her traumatic experiences of abuse and harassment, and asking Twitter to do something about all the abuse/bullying that goes on in social media against her and others. Umm…. ok? It’s also convenient that at the same time Melissa, Melissa’s husband and Melissa’s father (who has been silent for months) start tweeting out about the emotional abuse and harassment they have endured, James Hartline has stopped his endless tweets about Nick and his fans.
Always playing the victim.
Melissa’s claims her solo career failed because she wasn’t willing to be “sexy” or sing provocative music. A vast contradiction to what we’ve actually seen from Melissa (in the second blog).
Melissa comes out with allegations that she was abused by Nick at the peak of the Harvey Weinstein/me too movement.
Melissa assumed Nick told his manager, who she wanted to sign with, that he shouldn’t sign her and that made her give up any aspirations of a solo career. Unable to take responsibility, accept the fact that he may have simply not been interested in her.
Melissa tweeted that she had certainly felt “blacklisted” from the industry when it was confirmed Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd were indeed blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein.
Melissa alleges Vincent Herbert emotionally abused her and gave her PTSD when he made headlines for marital issues.
Melissa claims she has been emotionally abused, harassed, and sent death threats online by various Nick supporters when people stopped paying attention to her story.
What I won’t say is, I hope your life is over/ruined. I won’t spend my life trying to ruin your life like you are spending yours trying to ruin someone else for your own gain, you’ll have to answer to God for that one. There are few worse things a person can do than to try so hard to destroy another life. I don’t understand how anyone could think God would be ok with that. Especially with someone who has spent the better part of his life working to be a better person. And especially after your own words for Mark Salling (who was convicted for possession of child pornography). “We shouldn’t be wishing judgement on anybody, no matter their transgressions. We should be wishing for repentance and transformation.” I don’t think you ever practice what you preach or understand the meaning.
What I won’t say is, you have to have your own story to be an advocate. I have said this before, BE an advocate if that’s what you’d like to be, help other women BUT leave Nick out of it. Don’t use his name to get yourself more recognition. We know that’s what you’re doing. You do not need to have your own “story” or be a “victim” yourself in order to advocate for others. I don’t think this is about getting a payout from Nick anymore but using his name to start your new career path, which is like using him for money anyway. Being an “advocate” to “inspire” others and show how “brave” you are, is your new move, while using Nick’s name to get more recognition/opportunities from it.
What I will say is, you did this to yourself. Your true colors came to light and just when you thought you would be safe thinking, 15yrs later there couldn’t possibly be evidence to prove you are lying, you ended up providing the evidence all on your own. I will say, I don’t believe you. I will say, I think you felt rejected back then and have regret for what you did, or this simply was because the “opportunity” presented itself, or both. I will say, you are not a bad Christian for having sex before marriage. I will say, you are a bad human for gaining pleasure and feeling no remorse for ruining someone elses life. I will say, you are not inspiring or brave. I will say, you made it harder for real victims to come forward and be believed. I will say, you are an opportunist and love to be play a victim. I will say, I am not victim shaming because you are not a victim at all. I will say, it’s never too late to take a hard look in the mirror at the person you’ve become, and change your life around to be better.
STOP. MAKING. EXCUSES. FOR. AN. ACCUSERS. UNEXPLAINABLE. ACTIONS. AND. BEHAVIOR.
In continuation to the original blog I wrote: ‘The Nick Carter & Melissa Schuman Case: A Closer Look’ (which if you haven’t read, I suggest you do before reading this), I decided to make a separate blog to talk about some of the latest developments in this case. The previous blog has been and will be updated if new information comes in, but this portion needed a separate space to be discussed.
We will start with what the majority of this blog will discuss, James Hartline – someone who has recently “teamed up” with the Henschels, Melissa and Brandon. I don’t want to reveal personal things about random people I do not know personally, and post their information publicly for everyone to see, but in this situation it’s necessary. James Hartline, a self proclaimed “Prophet” and the Henschels have been publicly utilizing Twitter to egregiously slander Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys fans, those defending Nick, Nick himself, and even Nick’s wife. This will be the pivotal points discussed in this blog. Brandon & Melissa Henschel have condoned his behaviour for approximately one month. They have talked highly of this man, defended him, and allowed this man to stay in their home. Many people agree the company you keep speaks volumes of your character.
One important thing to remember is: fans, or anyone who defends Nick, do not have any actual connection with him personally. They are not his actual friends, they are not someone he spends time with for long periods. These are people who say what they feel, defend who they want out of their own free will, but have nothing to do with who Nick Carter is, and who he decides is part of his circle of friends. THAT is the difference, and why we are talking about James Hartline. He is the personal friend of Melissa and Brandon. He is someone who they know, and got involved in the situation. They know what he is doing—attacking innocent individuals, and making erratic rants—and they have exhibited similar behaviour (although not to his level) and voiced words of praise, thus encouraging him to continue. Furthermore, they are goading this man with an obvious mental condition, and suffering from serious medical conditions, including a fatal illness, which many have felt has been exploitative.
Ironically, Melissa recently stopped tweeting directly about Nick, no longer using his name, and only passive aggressive tweets were made. And not long after, James Hartline suddenly entered the picture, as an aggressive ally. He wasn’t this vocal when the allegations first came out; Brandon was not “liking” his tweets a few months ago, they were both not advocating for him on their Twitter a few months ago. Not saying they don’t have a close relationship with him, there’s evidence they do, but it’s odd he’s suddenly become vocal and fighting so fiercely for Melissa months after she published her allegations. Coincidence?
Before we get into the actual tweets James has posted, let’s give a little background into why we are troubled with James Hartline. All you have to do is Google James Hartline and you will find numerous articles on this self-proclaimed “ex-gay”, and anti-gay activist. Here are a few articles on him and a few highlighted points.
[Link] A convicted felon and born-again Christian, Hartline, 47, renounced the life he led for 33 years as a homosexual shortly after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1997. Although he has started taking medication, he believes God will one day cure him of AIDS. Moreover, he has turned against the gay community and has spent the last five years leading an increasingly vocal and effective crusade to close gay bathhouses and shutter adult bookstores in San Diego.
Along the way, he has taken shots at gay-friendly community organizations, individuals and events, as well as anything else that he feels falls short of being truly Christian, creating controversy in a series of high-profile confrontations.
He’s also blasted Republican leaders and candidates who, he says, don’t share his Christian morals, calling them corrupt. At one point, he even left his own church for several years because its leaders weren’t interested in helping him minister to gay youth in Hillcrest.
“Honestly, in my 40 years I have not met a [man like] Hartline,” says Nicole Murray-Ramirez, a gay-community activist. “He’s a guy that admits that he used to do drugs, he admits he used to go to bathhouses, he admits he used to be gay, he admits that he got HIV…. He knows our community inside and out. He knows how to exploit and exaggerate things, how to take things out of context.
“We have dealt with the religious right, radicals, militants, the American Nazis-we have dealt with all of them. We have never in San Diego-and I have been here 40 years-dealt with a Hartline. He’s one of the most dangerous.”
[Link] He also blamed the 2007 forest fires on the gays (God’s punishment), or actually on the anti-christian California lawmakers who even considered legalizing gay marriage. And last year, the torrential rains in Southern California were … well, you guessed it. Particularly charming is his tendency to start sounding like an incoherent Old Testament prophet when his hysterical rants reach their climax. He is also oppsed to the “Nazi-style stem cell research”.
Hartline has dealt with abuse from a young age, and he attributes most of his troubles with the law, as well as being homosexual, to the abuse he obtained as a child or other things he has gone through.
“Court documents show that he has alleged that his mother, a nurse’s aide, abused him from an early age, administering regular beatings that his father, a contractor, failed to stop.”
“These days, Hartline doesn’t believe that homosexuality is a genetic trait; he attributes his past sexual orientation to his father’s neglect and an early exposure to pornography.”
“Mr. Hartline’s compulsive burglary appears an imitation of what he believed to be his mother’s unfair rummaging in his room and also a continuation of his stealing from his siblings’ piggy banks because he believed his siblings received preferential parental treatment,” a psychologist would write years later.
But if Hartline’s family has been the cause of much of his troubles, then it seems he has returned the favor.
His brother, Doug Hartline, currently a professor at UC Davis, told CityBeat he hasn’t seen or heard from James in more than three years and wasn’t interested in talking about him.
“He’s posed a lot of challenges for the family, so it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to want to comment,” he said.”
Hartline also has a history of anti-Backstreet Boys rants. In 2010, he wrote a blog on Backstreet Boys member, Brian Littrell. [Link]
Backstreet Boy Backstabs Christianity – Brian Littrell, America’s Biggest “Christian” Hypocrite Mocks Christians at the 2010 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. He is flip flopping his Christianity so much that churchgoers will have a difficult time deciding whether they are watching Brian Littrell perform for TBN or simply playing ping pong with the Bible.
Littrell has perpetrated one of the biggest spiritual frauds on evangelical youth in recent history. Perhaps it is his Saddleback Church ideology that has convinced Littrell he can claim the benefits of the eternal cross of Jesus Christ at the same time he mocks Christ and dances with the San Francisco Gay Pride demons.
During a 2006 interview titled ‘Give Glory Where Glory is Due’ Brian Littrell told a Christian reporter that he doesn’t compromise his “faith” or “beliefs” to accomodate the entertainment industry:
“I’ve never not wanted to be public about it. There was a Rolling Stone [magazine] article that the Backstreet Boys did several years ago and the photographer wanted to take a picture of us with 50 young ladies in the background who were not even dressed—they were supposed to be completely nude. My faith played a big role in not taking that picture with the rest of the guys because at that time I was happily married—still am happily married—and I didn’t want to compromise my faith and who I was as a person and my beliefs, just because some photographer wanted to take a picture in Rolling Stone magazine painting this picture of what he thought the Backstreet Boys were. I’ve been tested a lot like that in the secular world—people asking me to compromise my faith to do things and I won’t do it.”
Harline posted this picture to go with this quote:
However, the actual photo shoot Brian was referring to was this one:
This blog was intended to bash Brian for being a Christian, recording a Gospel album, but also performing and walking in a gay pride parade with the rest of BSB. Brian – never one to back down from his faith and beliefs – expressed his support for gay marriage, despite backlash from people like James Hartline.
I am bringing this up for three reasons:
One, to show Hartline’s history of distaste for the group, and how he twists the information and facts, to fit with his agenda. This is the first of many examples of his exaggerations and lies which will be further revealed later on.
Second, Hartline attacked Brian for one specific photo shoot he did not want to be a part of, due to his beliefs, but pointed out another supposedly scandalous photo shoot of Brian. This immediately makes one wonder what he thinks of Melissa’s photo shoots from her time in Dream. If we look back to Melissa’s first “me too” blog on sexual harassment in the industry, Melissa also had a problem with a photo shoot. To be clear, I have absolutely no problem with women showing skin, being as sexy as they want to be, and dressing in clothes that make them feel confident. However, Melissa has stated as a whole, she did not want to go in that direction or portray herself in that light. If it were just the one photo shoot she had a problem with, this would make sense. But Melissa mentioned everyone knowing her “moral and religious boundaries” including wearing revealing outfits and singing about sex. She also mentioned holding her ground by saying “no” over and over led people in the industry to find her “religious “ “prudish” and “hard to work with” which she believes contributed to her failed solo career.
MELISSA SCHUMAN states: ‘In my 20’s I blamed myself for years for not having the same amount of success after the leaving my group DREAM. Truth be told, I had the same opportunity to make it big on my own but said no to much of what was required. My opinions and convictions gave me a reputation of being “religious” “prudish” and “hard to work with”. Not something you want to be known for at the ripe age of 18.
“So I continued on, and I struggled for years to find my voice as a recording artist. Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back I understand why. Everyone around me wanted to record songs entirely focused on sex despite my spiritual and moral opposition to it.”
“Shortly after, I receive a call from my manager telling me he got me a page in a men’s magazine. He was aware of my moral and religious boundaries, he knew I wasn’t going to be excited about the opportunity but stressed the necessity of doing a spread like this in a publication like Maxim or FHM.
I couldn’t do it. I was expecting a corset or something the Pussycat Dolls would wear, not a thong bikini and a bra. I was 18. I panicked. I freaked. I froze.
My page in the magazine never made it to print due to not being sexy enough. Needless to say I was never called in by the studio heads.”
That’s the only reason we are adding the following examples to why we are confused about her contradicting words to her actions.
In the following DM, Melissa’s father tries to explain this belt. We find it a little odd that Melissa stated in her sexual harassment blog just weeks before her Nick blog that she had no problems saying “no” to things because of her Christian faith. In fact, saying it so much that it was one of the reasons for the lack of success as a solo artist. Was it really that hard to take off a belt entirely if it didn’t fit your values, rather than leave it and spend the time trying to “fix it” (because apparently it was supposed to say “sexy”), which would have taken longer than simply taking it off?
Off topic but something to point out and remember for later in this blog, Melissa’s father states here that there is movement for the next steps publicly (basically saying they want to make sure the story gets attention). And that this is not about destroying Nick, but meant for her “healing”.
It is believed that this video of Melissa’s Sharon Osbourne appearance never actually aired.
All of these are from 2000-2003.
Again, this is not to shame her for wearing what she wants, but to show how Melissa’s statements contradict her actual actions. Simply put, hypocrisy in some opinions, and a conundrum nonetheless.
The third reason, James Hartline attacked Brian for being Christian and also showing support for the gay community.
Melissa, Brandon and James Hartline have all tried to prove through their tweets that they are indeed close friends who have known each other for years. In an attempt to prove how long they have been friends, James tweeted out a copy of an email he sent them regarding an organized protest of San Diego’s gay pride parade in 2006. Brandon and Melissa both signed up to join the protest.
Once information of them signing up for this protest was leaked, Melissa tried to back track by saying they participated only because of the apparent pedophiles who were supposedly working at the parade. These problems were a possible issue in the 2005 parade, but people noted the petition was from 2006. Melissa then tweeted out that because of the S&M stands and other non-child friendly things that are present in these parades were the reason for the protest. She also stated that the problem with pedophiles was still going on in 2006.
Melissa has not said publicly if she is or isn’t homophobic. She only stated several reasons she protested the Pride Parade. If she does support the gay community, is she not doing exactly what Brian did, in Hartline’s view? So, is she homophobic, or is she not? I’m not going to label someone homophobic here, but everyone can make their own judgments on her actions and affiliation with Hartline and draw your own conclusion.
Adding on to their protest, we have read in some of the articles about Hartline, that he will go to extremes, and exaggerate things to get what he wants. Is that what this pedophile issue was? A really good excuse/exaggeration as a reason to shut down an entire Pride Parade? Why not deal with the actual workers that they found out were sex offenders who somehow got a job working at the pride parade? Why not protest having the S&M stands, or other things they found offensive about the parade removed, instead of championing the shutdown of the entire parade? I think it’s pretty obvious why people do things like that; it’s something to fall back on when people call you homophobic. Say this was a Women’s March, or a Cancer Awareness March, and it came to light there were sex offenders who volunteered there. Would people really petition for closing down the entire event? Or would they work on getting those individuals removed, rather than letting anyone else suffer the consequences? Anyone who is supportive of the LGBT community knows how offensive it is to them for people to associate pedophilia with being homosexual.
We also find it strange how passionately Melissa fought against this Pride Parade due to the pedophiles, yet she was quick to defend Mark Salling former “Glee” star who was convicted on Dec 18, 2017 facing 4-7 years of possession of child pornography.
Brandon is also a dancer. There are plenty of heterosexual dancers, but it’s a career dominated by homosexual men. We did find some information on Brandon when he was a backup dancer for Kylie Minogue. Anyone who is a fan of hers knows how much she advocates for the gay community. Some places we have found said he was dropped after he made comments to other dancers calling them “sinners”, other have said he left on his own after realizing Kylie Minogue was a gay icon, and it didn’t fit with his Christian beliefs. Here is one: [Link]
There have also been a few blogs we have found that said Brandon had made some homophobic remarks, some of them on his old site, which is no longer available. According to a Britney Spears message board from 2004, Brandon addressed rumors that he was gay by stating on his website, “How can I be gay if that is not in accordance with the Scriptures?”
I do not think James Hartline is a dangerous addition to this case because he has been convicted of a crime. The actual reason he is dangerous is that he has a proven history of aggressively attacking people with beliefs that differ from his, and he goes to extremes to release false information and exaggerations to condemn people, or to get what he wants. If you are against something, where people are not directly hurting you (for example a Gay Pride event), I don’t see why it’s so hard to just ignore it, instead of making their lives hell. That’s what James Hartline does. Once he finds his prey – he attacks – whether it’s something, or someone. Now, Nick Carter himself and Nick’s supporters are his new victims. We get a good example of how Hartline “exaggerates” by looking at the hashtags on his tweets. I’m going to include various tweets from James while expanding on them, and I’ve included most of the ones that Brandon has “liked” on Twitter – showing his and Melissa’s ‘seal of approval’, and further instigating this hot headed temperament.
James has mentioned people defending Nick were “cyber terrorists”. In case you are unaware of what that actually means, here are some links. [Link] [Link] He also mentions that what’s happened to Melissa by people defending Nick is “one of the most horrific criminal conspiracies in recent years” again by “cyber terrorists”. He also has tweeted out many times saying Melissa was “brutally raped” by Nick.
I don’t want to undermine anyone who has been a victim of rape, but based on Melissa’s written and verbal account of her alleged “rape”, there was never any mention of force, or a struggle, nothing “brutal” about it. Being raped and the aftermath of any rape is traumatizing, but let’s not put this type of alleged rape in the same category as a “brutal” rape, where a victim may be violently beaten, violated by more than one perpetrator, etc. I know a lot of actual real victims who took offense to that. But we know that James Hartline likes to exaggerate, almost to the point of saying things that make no sense.
James Hartline and his impulsive, aggressive tweets made people further speculate her story, as this man seems uninformed and more importantly, not reprimanded or corrected by Melissa or Brandon.
James has also verbally assaulted and bullied individual Backstreet Boys fans. Some of them have not tweeted about Melissa, to Melissa, or anyone she knows; some have not even really mentioned the allegation on their social media. Why were they targeted and had their personal information blasted by this man all over social media? Probably because they are Nick Carter fans.
A group of people publicly defending Nick have used the hashtag #hissidetoo indicating they believe Nick’s side matters. This group was sought out by James. These are the people he is calling “cyberterrorists”. While they are vocal in their support, none of them have been involved in any death threats towards Melissa or anyone in her family the way James Hartline has made it seem. He has been asked several times to provide proof that there was a death threat from anyone he publicly attacked, and all requests went unanswered. If they have received death threats, it’s likely from some sick individual, whom I hope they file reports against if true. When you make allegations like Melissa has, it’s not uncommon to get death threats when people do not believe you. I am absolutely not saying that behavior is right or appropriate, but it’s unfortunately not uncommon. Most of the time, they are not of true concern and are just a few people who let their emotions run a bit too far.
Here are the examples. Out of respect, I’ve done my best to exclude the actual faces of those who James has shamed and bullied. Some have already reached out to me asking for the tweets made about them with their personal info be removed, and I can understand completely. If any of the people in these tweets would like them removed (or disguised better), please leave a comment letting me know (with info on which one), and I will remove them. As you read these tweets, please keep in mind that Brandon has “liked” most of them, indicating his support for Hartline’s bullying.
There are a few things I want to say about these tweets as they are quite disturbing. For those of you who read my last blog, you may remember Melissa’s tweets about Vincent Herbert, who according her, forced her to lose weight. And during that time, she expressed how people should not be shamed for their weight because everybody is beautiful, etc. Well, here we have James tweeting about “obese women”, and we have Melissa’s husband “liking” all these tweets. This guy is calling them “witches”, posting these fans places of employment, other personal pages of stories they have written, and shamed them for enjoying a couple of alcoholic beverages on a Backstreet Boys cruise (basically the same thing as a fun vacation). If we also remember, Melissa herself has done something similar. She tried to do some investigative work on the writer of another Backstreet Boys blog and posted her personal information. This is the main reason my blogs are anonymous. I could sense the people they are, and I knew if I put my information out there, they would come after me for having an opinion and speaking my mind.
Here are a few more of his tweets:
James tweeted this photo of Nick and a video from a Backstreet Boys cruise where the theme night was “Leather and Lace.” This was interpreted by most to be a theme based on the 50 Shades Of Grey books and movies. In the video, Nick had a fan blindfolded and was dancing sexy with her, just messing around and having fun.
One thing to note, the Backstreet Boys do this for the fans. If any fan feels uncomfortable by what any of the guys do, they would not do it with them or continue, and they would apologize. The cruises are meant for everyone to let loose, be a little naughty (within limits), and have fun. The fans who participated in in Leather and Lace night did so completely voluntarily.
Most importantly, I want to bring up what James is saying in this tweet, because of a picture of Nick with an inflatable penis, and him dancing provocatively, is proof that he’s a rapist. Does this mean that male exotic dancers are rapists? Oh, let’s not forget they are more likely to be rapists if they are married and have done these things (in public no less, for everyone to see, including their wives).
Let’s flip this around, this also means that any woman who plays around with these type of toys are also possible sex offenders. Any woman who is a exotic dancer, or dances provocatively in clubs are also dangerous. (It makes one wonder what James thinks of Melissa’s “sexy” performance on the Sharon Osbourne show). Under James’ standards, there would be a fairly large list of people who are going around acting disturbingly and showing us all that they are sexual deviants. We must ask this question, how is this type of thinking any different than those people who say – “women who act slutty are asking for it?” It’s not different. A self-proclaimed “advocate”, like Melissa now claims to be, should know that these kinds of correlations are part of the problem, no matter the gender.
James has also tweeted to BSB fans, shaming them for being married yet showing adoration for other men (Backstreet Boys), and used Melissa and Brandon as an example of a “proper” married couple.
Melissa exorbitantly talks about female empowerment and yet, supports the notion that women can only show affection for their husband, showing adoration for any celebrity is betrayal. Once we are married, we are owned by our husbands. Funny, since Melissa herself has gushed over Nick Carter several times, praising his talents and her time spent working with him (some of which she deleted once her story made headlines), but I guess Melissa Schuman is the exception. Melissa’s proclamations are only beneficial if they are self-serving to her.
More abhorrent, and loathsome demands – like Melissa has made, James has tweeted at places where the Backstreet Boys are holding events, demanding a boycott.
As this allegation has unfolded, it’s become clear that Melissa will go to great lengths to make people believe her “truth”, and it’s unclear how far she will go. There are a lot of things we haven’t mentioned regarding this case in the blogs, because if we did, this would take an entire day to read. Of the many things that puzzle us, her inconsistencies and changing stories tend to be disregarded, and these have not been trivial changes, they have been significant, crucial changes. But for Melissa, it’s easy for her to hide behind the #MeToo movement, hide behind the weak statement: “believe an accuser no matter what”, and call out anyone who questions her as “trolls” and “victim shamers”. Anyone who shows any attention to her Twitter, gets automatically blocked, even if they never directly tweeted her.
Not only does Melissa use this to her advantage, so do her small amount of supporters. One thing that all of her supporters have in common is they ignore anything unusual, and stick by her, blindly basing their support on two things – 1. her “story” of being a victim, and 2. rape culture. Sometimes people who have been victims themselves, have been through so much that they will stick by any other person claiming to be a victim no matter what, making excuses for them in the process. Many of them have confirmation bias, where they ““dig in” to established beliefs when confronted with contradictory facts or opposing ideas”. Luckily, not all victims are as ignorant. We have plenty who contributed who know how dangerous that mindset can be. We know they won’t change their mind, they refuse to believe a woman, or anyone would lie about being raped by someone. No one would do that to another person, right? We don’t always know motivation behind things, we don’t know if she justifies her actions based on something trivial. We acknowledge Nick’s past mistakes and his role in them. At the time, like many people, he may have tried to get out of bad situations to avoid bad publicity and even an arrest. But acknowledging a serious allegation such as this is not at all a fair or intellectually honest comparison. This is not drinking too much, getting into dumb bar fights that go too far. Someone with her radical beliefs may feel justified to make him suffer for something he did not do because in their eyes, he’s already done wrong. We’ve seen what they deem as disturbing behaviour, what they consider evidence that he is capable of rape.
It’s also been common for people to bring up the fact that Nick was having problems with abusing alcohol during this time. While that may be the case, it is not related to the actual night in question. Melissa stated in her blog that they had “one shot”. There was no other mention of alcohol consumption. Say if Nick had more on his own and Melissa just didn’t mention it, what was clearly not mentioned was any behavioral characteristics of drunken behaviour. This would have been a VERY important thing to mention in her story. If he was slurring, if he was having trouble with balance, anything of that sort was not mentioned. This is also insulting; it’s insulting for addicts in general when we assume because of it, they could be capable of rape. Also, it’s insulting to add a person’s past struggles and “rough patch” onto a case where it doesn’t even apply. If alcohol abuse on that night is not mentioned by the accuser, people should stop adding things in to the case which are unrelated to that night, just to make the accused look bad.
Where is the due process here? We’ve heard people say that it’s unfair to let an accused person be innocent until proven guilty because then we are already putting the alleged victim in the category of being a liar. Fine. The way I see it, put them both at 50/50 and see where the evidence takes you. As hard as it is for victims of assault to find justice by prosecution, it’s just as hard for victims of false accusations to find justice for themselves by clearing their name. Neither should get the upper hand. If people wonder why Nick “didn’t fight” back, we assume there could be many reasons. It’s not easy to sue someone for slander, or defamation, he faces the burden of proof, loss etc. On top of that, there would be those radical feminists and likely Melissa herself, who would shout to world that Nick was trying to “silence the victim”. She would claim that he was being a bully, using his “power” and lawyers to keep her quiet. Luckily, as time has gone by, we have a lot more evidence in this case. I’m not sure if it’s enough for him to take legal action, but it’s more than enough to solidify our support.
On top of Melissa’s desperate attempts to smear Nick’s name, we mentioned in the last blog that once the allegations came out, the media automatically tried to further villainize Nick. They called old flames and asked them if Nick had been abusive. If they said no, they would ask them if there’s a possibility they misinterpreted something that could have meant force or abuse. Basically, they didn’t care whether the people who came forward were speaking the truth, they offered money for a story and their name in headlines. This goes to show what can happen when an allegation makes headlines, the lengths even media will go for a story, whether or not there is truth to it. It becomes a witch hunt. I’m not sure how those people can call themselves reporters, let alone can sleep at night. That goes for those who take advantage of someone who has already been accused thinking there is no harm in saying “me too”.
Another thing that’s hard to ignore are the similarities between James and Melissa and even, Brandon. We’ve shown some of them already throughout this blog in regards to how hard they “go after” people, the tactics they use to intimidate, manipulate, and steer blame away from themselves, in order to garner more sympathy. We know they both fail to hold themselves accountable for their own actions or deficiencies, but rather place blame elsewhere, whether it be criminal behaviour or failed music careers. Melissa’s didn’t “make it” in the industry because she wasn’t willing to be sexy (her excuse), even though we’ve seen quite the opposite. Vincent Herbert allegedly abused her emotionally, and that’s why she has PTSD in the recording studio and can’t even record music? Nick abused her and possibly told his manager not to sign Melissa, and that’s why she gave up on her solo career. After Hollywood stars revealed they were blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein, Melissa tweeted out saying she “certainly felt that herself”, meaning she felt she was blacklisted, yet another reason for her deflated career. In her view, there’s no possibility that she just didn’t have “it”, that people in the industry were simply not interested in her. Similarly, is it possible that Melissa blames her “sin” of sex before marriage on the person who supposedly took her virginity?
We all know from earlier what James Hartline lists as the reasons for his past mistakes. He was gay because of his “father’s neglect and an early exposure to porn”. He stole things because of his mother’s unfair “rummaging in his room”. We don’t know if there is, but we haven’t seen much accountability. There are likely to be background reasons for why anyone is likely to go down a dark road and in the end get into trouble (even legitimately good reasons), but you also need to accept your role in it as well, accountability. Especially if that road leads to bad behaviour. On top of this, they both have been very vocal with their Christian faith; something we didn’t see on social media from Melissa until the allegations, and just recently, as James came into the picture, we’ve seen a lot more. When they speak of their abuse and advocacy for others who were abused, they speak in a similar manner. “I will not be silenced.” And using phrases from the Bible to show their bravery and strength. This is something Melissa has been doing a lot more lately. Citing the Bible, saying God is on her side, etc. As we all watch and speculate if these people ever actually read the Bible, as they do not show any empathy, compassion, forgiveness or grace; what REAL God fearing Christians try so hard to live by the Lords word. Most beg for mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ. Not these people. They are an insult to God loving Christians everywhere.
You think you are doing God’s work, but God would be disappointed in the way you have treated your fellow sisters and brothers. God would be disappointed that you can call yourself a Christian and then use that to destroy someone’s life. This is apparent when we look back to Melissa’s appearance on Dr. Oz, where she stated she wasn’t doing this to hurt Nick, she was doing it to “heal herself” and “empower others”. And in this LiveStream clip from December 31, 2017 [Link], Melissa talks about how she does not condone anyone going after Nick, because her point is “not to go after those who have abused, but to empower those who have been abused”, adding, “I’d be fine if no one said anything to him.” Almost every action and word she’s spoken since those are a complete contradiction to what her initial intention was.
If I’ve gotten a few gray hairs and feel like I’ve aged a couple years from all the stress this case has caused, I can only imagine what it’s done to Nick and those close to him. False accusations, and what outcome they have on the person accused are rarely discussed; we only hear over and over about the trauma victims go through during and after. Usually when we do hear about it, it’s when someone who was put behind bars for years is finally freed because the accuser recants their story. But let’s think about it. Melissa and her band of “associates” have done more harm than they can ever fathom. Most people may shrug this off having not been affected personally by anything other than a shocking accusation. When dealing with a he said/she said case, an accused person, in most cases, may not have any evidence other than their word of innocence (as it was when this story first made headlines). Therefore, it’s easier to be a supporter of an alleged victim claiming abuse, with so many outlets and support systems set up for their defence.
Let’s look back and let’s look to the present to see what it may be like for someone falsely accused. These allegations first came out a few days before Thanksgiving. Imagine waking up one morning and hearing that someone from 15 years ago that you had a consensual sexual relationship with, is now accusing you of rape. You likely have to read the story, have those close to you read this story, and find out your name has made headlines ALL over the world. It’s actually something I can’t really imagine. I can’t imagine that shocked, helpless feeling. You’ll wonder what those close to you think about you at that point; and whether or not they will believe you when you release your statement pleading your innocence. You look on your social media and it’s filled with hateful comments calling you a rapist, a pig, saying you should kill yourself, and that you’re worthless, etc. Not to mention, bringing up all your past struggles, moments when you were at your lowest, and it’s almost like reliving them all over again.
This was the first holiday Nick had with his first-born son, where he was at an age to enjoy Christmas. While I’m sure he tried to live in the moment, it was likely emblazoned on his mind. That is something he will never get back. As time went by, it may have been easier to get past it, and not let the accusations rule his life. However, Melissa did not make that easy with her demands that every place supporting Nick and BSB should end their support. She was a constant nuisance, trying over and over to get more exposure to her story.
Being falsely accused does not only affect the person accused, it has a great impact on your loved ones as well,
For Lauren Kitt (Nick’s wife), watching your “other half” deal with the effects of being falsely accused can be devastating. Personally, I know it can hurt more to watch someone you love so much go through something painful more than it is to go through it yourself. A day after the accusations came out, there were comments demanding that Lauren should leave her husband. Lauren however, showed the world she was standing by Nick by posting a family picture on Thanksgiving, days after the accusation.
She also posted a statement following Melissa’s appearance on Dr. Oz.
We know Lauren has advocated for women, and I guess the saying is true “you don’t know until it happens to you.” I’m not even directly involved; but I know this case has had a huge impact on me. Anger is valid. But Lauren was not posting various angry messages to Melissa demanding she stop speaking ill of her husband. She did post a few passive messages indirectly, but not mentioning her name directly.
Yes, Lauren was not there when this happened, and yes, Nick is different from who he was 15 years ago; however, the moral fabric that you are does not change. Lauren has been with Nick for almost 10 years. If there is one person who knows Nick inside and out, it would be Lauren, and most importantly on an intimate level. There are others (such as the rest of the guys) who know Nick just as well. But what Nick is like intimately with another person is the most important aspect for this situation. As fans, we’ve even heard Nick admit that when it comes to sexual situations, he enjoys being dominated, and he admitted he is very submissive. This is from more than one Q&A with the rest of BSB years ago. Adding on that most people know things about their partner that others do not, it would be hard to hide something like this from someone who knows you so well.
This did not only put a burden on Nick and his family, this rightly put huge stress on the rest of the group. I’m sure they didn’t know how people were going to react, and the overall outcome of their livelihood. Therefore, having further impact on the respective families of each member, their management, security and everyone else involved with the group. Of course, it wasn’t only their careers they were worried about, as we mentioned before, watching someone you love struggle with something like this is painful. Let’s not forget, anyone who knows Nick knows how important the group is to him, how proud he is of their successes and what they represent. Not to mention, how much the rest of the boys mean to him. I can’t imagine the guilt he felt knowing he may have ruined that through no fault of his own. Thankfully, just like we were not convinced with this accusation, neither were the places they had set up to perform, including their Vegas residency. This doesn’t mean they may not have had some fallout from places we are unaware of behind the scenes. Things unbeknownst to us. Not to mention, how many press calls they had to field, how many reporters were hounding them all asking for statements about Nick and the situation.
Finally, it’s accusations like Melissa’s which have had a negative impact on the #metoo movement itself. While she claims to be “a voice for others to speak out”, she has essentially made it harder for those who may have found solace for their own stories via #metoo to be taken seriously and believed. Making a false report is a crime and we are under no illusion that Melissa will receive any type of repercussion for everything she has done. While she had every opportunity to make things right, she continued on her quest to destroy lives.
There are some people who will say, “we defend Nick because we are women who can’t get over their childhood crush”. With any fandom there will be those fans who cannot fathom their idol doing anything wrong. The majority of people I’ve interacted with have looked at this situation beyond their adoration. Many people who defend Nick are not even BSB or Nick Carter fans, but simply fighting for truth and the principle. Fighting for someone who was wrongly accused, had their life turned upside down, and their name smeared by an accusation; we’ll say it, and keep saying it – an accusation with zero proof of being true, but significant amount of things showing it’s fabrication. We know we have valid reasons to feel the way we feel, and thus are justified in defending someone we believe was done wrong. Melissa Schuman herself, provided the evidence used against her.
This leads me to another statement that’s troubling, which I’ve seen once or twice, and that’s “I can’t believe what I am seeing from a mostly female fan base”, meaning most are supporting and defending Nick, but since we are women, we should be supporting other women, labeling us as misogynistic. A female is not required to support only females. We should stop telling women what they should do, stop telling them what it means to be a feminist, and how to be a feminist. It’s a pretty ignorant statement coming from people claiming to be feminists themselves. We have a right to our opinions and have a right to support a man if we feel they are innocent. We should not be supporting people based on equal gender to ourselves, we should be supporting people based on truth and facts.
I do wonder how Melissa feels having her name publicly attached to Nick Carter for the rest of her life. That is ultimately what she will be most recognized for. And since Melissa decided to go public with her story on social media first instead of the authorities, she essentially made not only her accused and his friends and family targets, but her own as well. Melissa has a young son who will no doubt one day read about this the same as Nick’s. What if her son is falsely accused of rape? Will Melissa automatically believe a woman that could possibly accuse her son of being a rapist, since she’s in the mindset that “all women must be believed”? Or would she want justice for her son, for people to examine the claims, look at the evidence and make an educated judgment? Has she thought about the way her actions will negatively affect her child, or is she only worried about herself?
Melissa can continue advocating for women who’ve been abused, which she could have done to begin with. All we ask and hope for, is that she moves on with her life and keeps out of Nick Carter’s life. We hope she stops considering herself as an authority figure where she can demand he lose his work, stops tweeting places that support Backstreet Boys, telling places to boycott them for supporting the boys, and stops attacking him and his supporters. This includes all her “friends” who she encourages to act in the same manner.
Even though there is zero proof of Nick’s guilt, he was never granted due process, to be dealt with in the correct manner. Why is social media the place to dictate when a person is judged by court of public opinion? In order to prevent someone from being falsely accused, we need to verify before we crucify the person accused. I also hope more victims will do the right thing by going straight to the police, instead of straight to social media years later to join the opportunistic bandwagon. Why are victims more concerned with attention gained from their accusations, rather than getting potential justice? Some of the people coming out with public accusations on social media have said all they want is an apology. Why is it important to get a public apology, instead of reaching out to that person and getting a private one, letting that person know they felt they were treated wrong and potentially stop it from happening again. Especially when we know the person is not a predator or dangerous person, they may just be uneducated and not as perceptive at picking up signals. For example, the Aziz Ansari case. The girl let him know she felt uncomfortable, he let her know he had no idea and apologized, yet she still felt the need to publicly shame him. Are we not hoping for men to acknowledge, educate themselves and be better? Not shame them to the entire world and have everyone give their two cents on a bad date. If people get the opportunity to know better, they will do better.
I mentioned in my last blog that I wished things were handled differently. After that blog, I may have been too optimistic. I try to always see the good in people, hope that people will strive to be better and treat others with kindness. Hope that they take a look at the bigger picture, take a step back and look at their own behaviour. But Melissa has shown the cunning, egotistical person she truly is. As time has gone by, in this dark time for Nick, we have seen light. We have seen Nick once again persevere through whatever hardships life throws at him. I believe that in every hard time there is a lesson. Many people may wonder, why do bad things happen to good people? I’m sure that’s a question we, and Nick himself has asked through the years. Even though I’m not a very religious person, I do believe there was a reason. Maybe you are just the person in the fire to deliver the message. This may not be Nick’s lesson, but the other person involved, and Nick was chosen because God knows how strong he is. He also knows that with every struggle Nick goes through, he always comes out of it a better person.
And to Nick, we’re proud of the way you have handled yourself throughout this hard time. We’re proud of the person you have become today, from your struggles years ago, to your struggles of the moment, to the struggles of the future, you always strive to be a better you. I went into this 50/50, took a step back from my fandom and a deeper look into the case, educated myself and kept an open mind. Months later, I have no doubts. I’ve never felt better or more confident about standing with someone and FOR something as serious as this.
Spending the last few months keeping tabs on Melissa and those she associates with has been draining. Almost sucking the life out of many of his vocal supporters. It’s hard to be witness to some of the things we’ve seen from the Schuman’s and those associated with them. There comes a point, if you keep associating yourself with people like them, you feel helpless and start to question humanity. How can anyone find pleasure attempting to destroy another person’s life? I would never wish ill upon anyone, but I hope Melissa reflects on what she’s done, moves on with her life, and focuses on the important things life has to offer, like her family.
FYI: The purpose of these blogs, as mentioned in the last one, was to document all of the inconsistencies within this case the best I could and have them all in one place. It was not intended to gain any attention, or for any other reason. These were written as a reference for anyone who chooses to use it.
If you’re wondering why this is anonymous, it will be explained in my second blog. The link will be provided at the end. (last updated August 2020)
It’s been almost three years since Melissa Schuman (former DREAM member) publicly accused Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys band member) of rape in 2003. Since that time, a ton of new information has come to light; causing doubt by many who initially believed Melissa, while confirming what many believe are false allegations. There are always people who believe Melissa without even looking beyond her original blog post, these people usually believe anyone who comes forward—no matter what. I do ask that despite what you believe at this moment, take the time to read this entire blog. I know this is a long post with a lot of information, but all of it is so important to see before forming your final opinion. We will be discussing what happened prior to the allegation, break down the allegation itself, and look at various things that happened after Melissa came forward. A lot has happened but one thing remains consistent, the two people involved have very different perceptions of what happened that evening. Melissa claiming it was non-consensual, Nick claiming it was consensual. It’s important to remember, Melissa stated in her blog and after her blog was posted that it is “her truth”. All the evidence gathered here has come from Melissa herself. However, this blog will include opinions; my opinion, along with others who have a lot of questions. Some are fans of Nick Carter, some are not.
When the story first broke, like everyone, we all gave Melissa the benefit of the doubt, but with something as serious as this allegation, with a personal accusation against another person – you need to look for evidence, reasonable doubt, and FACTS. Relying on the court of public opinion means that we are the courtroom. We are the ones who need to investigate. We are the ones who need to think: if we were on a jury, would we be able to say without a reasonable doubt that this man is guilty? Nowhere in a courtroom are people guilty until proven innocent, but it seems in light of this movement that’s the case, and being born a female is enough to make you a reliable source – no questions asked. You can ruin a man’s life with an accusation and anyone who calls you out on lying are labeled as “victim shaming”. Asking for clarification on a questionable allegation containing numerous inconsistencies and unusual behaviour is not shaming.
Melissa states that this incident took place on an off day of shooting the film they were both cast in. She and her roommate, along with one of Nick’s friends hung out at his apartment in Santa Monica, Ca.
“I was no longer in a relationship and now single. My first impression of him, he was kind and charismatic so when he asked if I’d like to hang out with him and his friend at his Santa Monica apartment on our off day of shooting, I said yes. I invited my roommate to come with me.” (Melissa’s blog)
Now, if this was their off day, that means they would have to go back to work together, however, there is no mention of what happens when she goes back to work with him after this night. She actually made it seem like she didn’t see him again until the showcase they did together long after the incident. But what she does mention is Nick apparently going crazy afterwards calling her over and over again.
“Shortly after he called me. He called me over and over and over again for 2 weeks and I wouldn’t pick up. I didn’t want to hear his voice. He jammed my phone with calls for weeks, leaving me messages demanding I speak with him. Then he finally left me one last nasty, angry message and he never called me again.” (Melissa’s blog)
Cut to her Dr. Oz interview (a few weeks after the story made headlines). She must have realized she forgot to mention they had to work together again. She says that afterwards she was so terrified of seeing him that she asked her Father, Jerry Schuman, and her roommate to go with her to the set. She talks about the fact that he acted like everything was okay and normal, that nothing had even happened.
What happened to those phone calls? Was she trying to paint a picture that Nick was obsessing over her? Why would he call her over and over again when he would be face to face with her when they went back to work together? She also stated that when they did go back to work, Nick was acting normal, as if nothing had happened, not some crazy person who was harassing her on the phone.
Then there is this:
This was posted on Melissa’s instagram on Feb 5, 2018. Melissa deleted her reply shortly after posting it, but not before someone captured a screenshot. Again, this is a contradiction to her story where she says Nick did not act like he did anything wrong but acted normal. And there was also no mention of a text between her and Nick anywhere in her original story, or in her appearance on Dr. Oz. She is claiming here that he did know that he did something wrong or asked “why did you make me do that?” whatever that’s supposed to mean.
In her original blog, Melissa states she didn’t tell her roommate or anyone else after it happened, and for a while.
“That was so much fun, huh!?” -roommate
“I just want to go home. I’m tired. I just want to go to sleep.” Melissa Schuman
I didn’t tell her. I didn’t even want to admit what happened was real to myself. Over the next few weeks I drew further and further from my friends and family and they noticed. I still didn’t tell anyone. (Melissa’s blog)
On Dr. Oz, Melissa changed her story and claimed that afterwards she told her roommate and her roommates mother. Dr. Oz says he confirmed that they were told right after it happened. Melissa also says they encouraged her to go to the police and get a rape kit done right away (rape kits need to be done within 72 hours). In another interview Melissa gave with Life & Style (Published February 2018) Melissa confirms that the roommate and the roommates mother were told after it happened. This is a big contradiction to her original story.
In the Life & Style interview:
“Melissa’s roommate urged the young entertainer to speak to an adult — specifically, her mom — about what happened. So, a little while later, Melissa found herself explaining the situation to her roommate’s mother, Marlene Craig.”
This tweet was found by a Marlene Craig:
Here Marlene states it was Melissa and a “friend” who told her, not her daughter. In the Life & Style interview the roommate clearly states she went to her mother, Marlene Craig. Strange. We don’t have any proof that this is the same Marlene Craig, but she is talking about Melissa’s case and saying that she knew about it.
Here we have Melissa saying she thought she’d never have to see Nick again.
“It was over, at least I thought it was. I thought I’d never have to see or hear from him ever again. Until, I later signed with his manager, Kenneth Crear. Kenneth Crear was a very powerful manager who I thought could help me make my mark as a recording artist.” (Melissa’s blog)
So, she didn’t want or think that she would ever see him again after the alleged rape but again, Melissa failed to mention that she did actually see him again on the set of the movie. Melissa also decided to take an opportunity and signed with the same manager Nick had at the time (At that time, he didn’t have a huge clientele, Nick being the most well known). It is odd that she would even want to sign with a manager who had such a close relationship with her supposed abuser, who she claimed she never wanted to see or hear about again. The manager, Kenneth, had her record some songs, one of which was with Nick. Although they recorded the songs on separate occasions, she agreed to record the duet. Why would she agree to record a duet with someone who not long before she claimed she wanted to press charges against, and claimed she wanted nothing to do with. According to her, it was because she thought this duet would help her solo career.
“I tried to justify that maybe something good to come out of something very bad. Maybe this song might help me get signed as a solo artist and I could move on and put everything behind me. Kenneth asked my abuser if he would be willing to sing the duet with me live at my showcase and he agreed.
I wasn’t surprised that he did. He knew this way I couldn’t avoid him anymore. ”
In her blog, Melissa makes it seem like this is the next time they are seeing each other after the alleged rape and Nick’s phone calls. Melissa is saying that she wasn’t surprised that Nick said yes because he knew this way she couldn’t avoid him anymore. Well according to her on Dr Oz, they didn’t avoid each other, they went on set together right after. And yet again, Melissa is painting some sort of picture that Nick had some sort of fixation with her, despite her saying on Dr. Oz that he acted totally normal with her on the set of the movie. Of course these are all assumptions on her part of why Nick agreed to do the showcase. Was he just being nice? According to Melissa, this had everything to do with her.
“The day of the showcase, he arrived. I waited quietly and anxiously backstage bracing myself for the confrontation. We stood next to each other in awkward silence. He was irritated with my lack of warm welcome and appreciation for the favor he was doing for me.”
“How have you been?”-Nick Carter
“Good.” -Melissa Schuman
Silence.
“I have a boyfriend.” added Melissa Schuman
“Good for you. I hope it works out.”Nick Carter
The conversation was going no where. I was uninterested, un-engaging, unappreciative and it upset him further to hear that I was in a relationship that I was happy in.”
I could tell he was agitated, he wasted his valuable time doing something he didn’t need to do for me. His last words as we walked on stage was,
“Let’s just get this over with already.”
There’s a lot to say on this part of the story. For starters, some people may know how shy Nick could be—around girls in particular—when he was younger. It’s something he has stated himself in various interviews during that time. Some of Nick’s ex-girlfriends from around that time have also confirmed this. One of them claimed she was reached out by the media when this story broke and they were only interested in villainizing Nick. This is not saying people who are shy are incapable of doing such things. This is to show a bit of how Nick was around women during that time. He was quite laid back and people who have hooked up with him have said he was more likely to show interest or approach someone who showed clear signs they were interested, that way he wouldn’t get shot down. Not saying that happened every time or that it didn’t change as time went on and his confidence grew, but it is something people have said from experience.
Getting back to the section above from Melissa’s blog. What Melissa is basically doing in this whole section is insinuating that Nick was highly into her. She is assuming he was “irritated with my lack of a warm welcome”. Could it be that he was just uncomfortable? People who are shy show many different signs. Heck, maybe he was really tired or didn’t really want to do this but was forced into it. Some people also have what is called “resting bitch face”, where you essentially look pissed all the time, irritated, or whatever. Personal story, I have worked with people who have told me after years of working with them that when they first started working with me, they thought I hated them for a long time.
So basically, all Melissa was doing at this point is giving a narrative of how she wants Nick to come across to everyone.
She doesn’t stop there. Her conversation was something I was surprised no one else brought up because it was really unusual. Imagine having a conversation with someone you may have hooked up with, or ANYONE you don’t really know very well. You ask them how they are doing, and after some awkward silence, they randomly bring up that they have a boyfriend or girlfriend. Now, I’m sorry but if I were Nick, I think I would have responded in pretty much the same way he did. Why are you bringing up that you have a boyfriend? Was this a way to try and make Nick jealous? I don’t see the point in bringing that up out of nowhere. But of course, yet again Melissa wants us to know that finding out she had a boyfriend irritated Nick (because he was so deeply obsessed with her). Usually women do this when they feel rejected.
“it upset him further to hear that I was in a relationship that I was happy in.”
Melissa is assuming again that he was upset because she had a boyfriend. Maybe he was uncomfortable or maybe he thought she was really weird for bringing up that she had a boyfriend out of nowhere.
In addition to that, she states in the beginning that she knew he only accepted because that way she “couldn’t avoid him anymore” but when they actually interact, she makes it seem like Nick wasn’t that eager to interact with her, and basically just wanted to get it over with.
This is a constant in Melissa’s blog, her stating over and over how Nick felt throughout everything and why he was feeling that way. How is it possible for her to know exactly how Nick felt and why? It is possible for her to portray Nick the way she wants readers to see. No one knows what Nick felt and why he felt them but Nick himself.
I decided to move the portion of the alleged “rape” to the end of this blog for those who want to read it. Most of the things mentioned in this blog are facts that we know for sure; in that section, we don’t know if what was written is what actually took place. A lot of the questions raised are justified and important but we know it is a highly sensitive area to discuss. I do encourage everyone to give it a chance and open up their minds, but for those of you who are not interested in reading it, it’s something you can avoid at the end.
A lot of the things I’m going to be talking about now can be found in the blog post from What Happens On the Backstreet: The Curious Case of Nick Carter & Melissa Schuman.
Melissa actually wrote a second blog post responding to that blog called “Liar, Liar, Liar”, so we’ll sort of add them together with what she wrote in her post to explain things. Hopefully it doesn’t get confusing for anyone.
Speaking of her second blog post; One thing that should be addressed, is the fact that Melissa actually attacked the author of “The curious case of NC & MS” basically claiming that the fan who wrote it worked for Nick, and was hired by Nick—and his “team”—to orchestrate an “attack” on her.
“Has anyone else noticed she’s an editor for his website NickCarter.net? That sells his merchandise. Who had a vested capital interest in how my story might expose him?
Is it possible that Nick Carter and his team are responsible for orchestrating this attack against me?
How am I supposed to fight against such blatant hatred? How does any person fight against someone with more power than them? I don’t have a fancy PR team or an army of adoring fans to defend me and silence the other side.”
It is obvious the person who wrote that blog is a fan; a regular person, as is the case with this blog. No one who works for any media outlet. It was a place for fans to find all the questionable information that came pouring out in one place. And since every other media outlet only wrote Melissa’s side of things, their fans wanted a place that had some of Nick’s side, the questionable facts that were found. The ONLY reason some media outlets wrote about it was because Sharna Burgess (Nick’s dancing partner on DWTS) re-tweeted it and made a video about Nick. Some media outlets wrote about Sharna’s support for Nick and included the blog that Sharna tweeted out. That was it. The funny thing is, the fan blog did not even tag ANY media outlets in the blog, nor was it tweeted out tagging them. However, when Melissa wrote her second blog, accusing the fan who wrote it and Nick’s team of attacking her, she DID tag every media outlet she could think of. But Melissa didn’t want any attention from her story, right?
Is it possible that Nick Carter and his team are responsible for orchestrating this attack against me?
Not only did she accuse her of an attack but she also posted this girls personal twitter account.
Now let’s talk about Melissa’s explanations. We’ll start out with Melissa Schuman following Nick Carter on Twitter (he was not following her back). Her explanation on her second blog post was:
I followed a lot of people on Twitter that I wasn’t even aware of. It wasn’t a social platform that I used constantly or even understood it’s power and influence.
Many times I would click on the profiles that Twitter would “suggested” I follow. Why? Because I didn’t think it was a big deal.
If you “follow” someone on social media it doesn’t mean you “follow” them. I think we all know that just because you “don’t” follow someone on social media, doesn’t mean you “don’t” follow them.
Ok, so she wasn’t “aware” she was even following Nick on Twitter. She randomly got a suggestion for Nick and the button for follow was magically pushed on its own?
She sent out a tweet to Nick when his sister passed away in 2012.
Her explanation:
“If you look back on my “condolences” tweet, you will see my response was nearly 10 years after the assault. The statute of limitations was up. This was my way of relying on forgiveness and compassion as I was convinced he would never be held accountable”.
She talked about this tweet on Dr. Oz as well saying, “I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to come forward. I never wanted to talk to him again, so I was certainly never going to go and face him face to face.” She again said this tweet was one of forgiveness and showing compassion.
Ok, so with this tweet (in 2012), she realized her time was up. She never wanted to see or talk to Nick again, but with this tweet she wanted to show compassion and forgiveness, for herself.
*Edit: This was actually 9 years after the alleged incident, not 10, which means the statute of limitations was not up. When Melissa was asked why she never corrected the year from 2002 to the correct year of 2003, she said it was because she only wrote in her blog that she was 18, which she still was in 2003 when this happened. The press had assumed it was 2002 and she never corrected the press on the year because she says she never went to the press, she just wrote her blog. This confirms that she did know it was 2003, which means this “excuse” doesn’t actually add up with her explanation. Did she make this explanation up when she realized this tweet was exactly 10 years after the “reported” year, allowing her to compile a rather good excuse of realizing her “time” was up and she wanted to rely on “forgiveness”? It made a pretty good story, if only she didn’t slip up and admit to knowing the correct year, proving she made this up.
She also explains this tweet, where she likes a tweet mentioning her Nick and her husband as “DILFS”. Her explanation was simply because her husband was mentioned in the tweet. Most people might ignore a tweet all together that includes your supposed rapist as a “dad you’d like to fuck” but hey, sure.
The last thing that Melissa explained in her second blog was this video:
“He was cast as a judge on Boyband. Yes, I was previously hoping to be considered for that project too. I didn’t know Nick was attached to the project until a fan on my Instagram Livestream brought it up. I didn’t have the privilege to be honest. How was I supposed to react when they told me his Dad died? When they brought up Aaron?
I had been publicly acting like nothing happened between the two of us for over a decade. I was supportive of the concept of the project because of it’s potential for a spin-off, “GirlBand”.
Ok, so to start, she says that in this livestream she didn’t realize Nick was attached to the project (Boyband) and that someone else brought it up. I watched the video. I read the comments. There is no denying she brought it up when someone mentioned “Did you hear about Nick Carter’s dad”. This means that she knew beforehand that Nick was going to be a judge on it. Not only that, she started talking about how “excited” she was about it (again, no one else mentioned it) signaling that she was planning on tuning in. No one forced her to say these things. She mentioned them all on her own. But she “didn’t have the privilege to be honest.” Right.
Expanding on her saying she “didn’t have the privilege to be honest”. Here and on the Dr. Oz appearance, she has made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with anything Nick Carter. She didn’t want to talk to or see him again. And clearly here she is saying that “her honesty” is the fact that she did not like him. So she says “how was I supposed to react when they told me his dad died? When they brought up Aaron?” She could have kept it simple and said: “that’s horrible news” or something to that effect. But I’m assuming you’ve watched the video and see that Melissa had a lot more to say for someone who would have liked to avoid the subject of Nick Carter altogether.
“Oh my Gosh, no he didn’t. Oh my gosh. That poor guy has been through so much. His sister and now his dad, poor guy. He’s been through it man, I’ll tell ya. So sad.” And then she starts talking about Boyband (which again, she brought up in the first place), and mentions that Nick’s brother Aaron is a “hoot” when someone on the livestream mentions him.
There are those few who will say “but sometimes victims show empathy for their abusers.” While this does happen, this is usually when the abuser is someone close to you (family, friend). It is not a “normal” thing that a majority of victims go through. In addition to that, Melissa has already made it clear on numerous occasions that this was not the case for her. When this first happened she wanted to press charges, from that point on she said she never wanted to see or talk to him, wanted nothing to do with him, and even told us her “honest” opinion of him was that she thought very low of him and didn’t like him. This is one thing that has stayed consistent in Melissa’s story. Another thing to mention is that there is literally an explanation for almost every unusual thing a victim may do. BUT that does not mean that it applies to every victim. Yes, we should consider behavior of victims, but we should also understand that just because there are explanations sometimes, does not mean it applies to every single victim. If that were the case, every victim would feel the exact same things and there wouldn’t be such varied responses.
On top of all the the things mentioned before. If she never wanted to speak to him again, wanted nothing to do with him and said she couldn’t be “honest” about her thoughts about him (showing she thought very low of him), then it is unusual that she would continually have so many things pop up that were related to him.
One really unusual one would be when she added a scene from the Hollow to a youtube playlist. On Dr. Oz she said that this was apparently shot after the incident, where he supposedly acted normal around her, but she was terrified.
If we go back to her stating she never wanted to talk or see him face to face, this tweet is a little odd. On top of her liking the tweet, I’m not sure when the two of them were ever “tour mates”, since there is no information we could find on it. It is possible they were scheduled to be touring mates but things didn’t work out, but it does state “we miss you guys”. Not only is it unusual for Melissa to agree to be tour mates (again, not sure when this was), considering she never wanted to see Nick again, but also “like” the potential of that happening (or that they were). This is also unusual for her band mates whom she stated knew about this as well.
One Instagram post with considerable suspicion is when she posted a picture of Nick with the song they recorded together (if we remember she described this whole experience as horrible). Melissa had written words of praise for Nick when she posted it but as her story made headlines, this post was deleted. Unfortunately, at the time, no one was quick enough to capture the actual post, but someone was able to grab this shot with Melissa’s old Instagram handle before it was changed. Again, she says she wanted nothing to do with this guy, didn’t like him or want to see him ever again. Yet, here she was praising him, then deleting it later.
If you look at the Instagram live video from before, you will also see this old Instagram handle before she changed it.
Her My Space page containing her duet with Nick:
Another tweet, something that could have been ignored altogether or simply left out the part of him being a “talented guy”.
Liking and retweeting the song they did together again.
Her saying music from Nsync, BSB and Britney give her the “warm and fuzzies” [4:07 of the video]
Melissa had also reached out to Aaron in 2013, wishing him and his family well.
Melissa commented on a Backstreet Boys Vegas performance on March 15, 2017 from a Backstreet Boys Instagram fan page. In order to find this, she would have had to search for any of the hashtags included in the video, one of them is #nickcarter.
We’ve looked at Melissa’s behaviour prior to her allegation, but it is also important to look at her actions after the allegation. Melissa has stated many times that Nick “triggers” her, she’s said she’s had a distaste for him since the alleged incident. However, similarly to before her allegation, she continuously exhibits an obsession towards him, to this very day.
Melissa was caught tuning into the Backstreet Boys live-stream of their performance on Wango Tango this past June for approximately 20 minutes. A conundrum after seeing various tweets from her stating a boycott of all the places supporting them.
Nick posted this selfie on March 26, 2019, just two days later, March 28, 2019, Melissa posted her selfie. There is no denying the similarities in these selfies and captions. A selfie in bed, and Nick stating that he is a morning person. Melissa selfie in bed, saying shes not a morning person. Not only does Melissa look at Nick’s instagram page and not get “triggered”. A “rape victim” specifically wasn’t triggered seeing a picture of their “rapist” half naked on a bed? The same girl who said she couldn’t enjoy the Superbowl because Backstreet Boys had a 2 minute commercial at some point during the game.
Melissa knows the Backstreet Boys had a Vegas Residency and that Nick lives in Vegas. On March 7th, 2019 Melissa and her husband (who live in LA), went house hunting in Vegas, just 15 minutes away from where Nick lives. Yes, she wanted to move close to her “rapist”.
Here we have Nick tweeting in Jan of 2020 that he’s going to start gaming on Twitch with fans. On Jan 23, 2020 he shared his username “KaoticGamers”. For those who aren’t Backstreet Boys fans, “Kaos” has been one of Nick’s well known nicknames since he was younger, he also has it tattooed on his back. One day later, on Jan 24, 2020, Melissa tweeted that her son was taking over her stream under the name “KaosTheMaster”. On Feb 10, 2020 Melissa posted on her IG that she was going to start streaming yoga sessions exclusively on Twitch, and also shares her joy for gaming. Melissa has claimed that her son chose the name “KaosTheMaster” based on being a fan of a character from “Skylanders”. While it may be true that her son was a fan of some character, there is no denying the date being one day apart and the other similarities here. This means she keeps tabs on what Nick is doing. Did she watch Nick’s streams?
Let’s talk about who she eventually told. She told her whole family, her husband once they started dating (which was not long after the incident), her band mates, and others.
The oddest would be that her father (both parents, really, but I’m going to talk about her father here) would not only be ok with not taking any action against this, but he was also there on set with her during the movie (where she was terrified to go alone). People have seen her father’s aggressive behavior on twitter, his hashtags of “a fathers fury”. Question is, where was that “fury” when this actually happened? Was Melissa’s career more important than what was supposedly done to her? Melissa even defended her father’s antics on Twitter, saying he is just a father who is dealing with this too. But again, where was all of this outrage when this actually happened?
Let’s talk about her father, a grown man, who instead of ignoring the people on Twitter, engaged with them, portraying rather childish, belligerent behavior.
Here are just some of his tweets:
He even went as far as finding a Backstreet Boys fan forum and telling them over twitter that he is “watching them”.
These are just a fragment of the back and forth conversations he’s had with people online. In addition to those, he posted a youtube clip from ‘House of Carters’ where Nick and Aaron fight, apparently trying to prove that Nick gets annoyed and angry sometimes with his little brother. On a reality show nonetheless.
So again we ask why wasn’t there this kind of fight when she told him?
Yeah, we can’t either.
He was very involved in her career, clearly very protective of her. Was her career more important than getting justice? While he was tweeting, he didn’t forget to mention facts about his daughters career when people mentioned they had no idea who she was.
One thing many people have stated and I can attest to personally is no matter what, if my good friend told me she/he was raped by someone, that person would be my enemy.
There’s this video with Ashley (who publicly stated she has known for a long time). [1:43 of the video] If she had to “pretend” then she could have given a response similar to the one she gave at 1:21 to the ‘Nsync song. Avoided it, give no real commentary. That would have made more sense. That is in addition to Melissa gushing over the Backstreet Boys song.
As for her husband, maybe he had to be professional when performing with his wife’s alleged rapist, but why would you post something about the performance on your personal instagram? There is no requirement for that. Sorry, doesn’t make sense.
We’ll discuss the subject of them knowing in more detail later on.
Melissa was caught reaching out to a witness of the incident, hoping to persuade them to corroborate her story. A NEW VERSION of her story, where she wants them to remember sleeping on floor and hearing her say no. This person also claims Melissa offered them compensation if there was any settlement.
Another thing to mention is how much Melissa was working on boosting her career which at that point was nonexistent. We already showed one tweet where Melissa mentions she is “working” on getting her twitter verified. She was also working on getting her instagram verified.
She had tweets mentioning she wanted to be on Big Brother & Dancing with the Stars.
An audition tape to be on the amazing race with her husband. Link here.
Liking a tweet about being a judge on Boy band.
On December 30, 2017 , Melissa made another claim against Vincent Herbert when reported marital problems were circulating in the media between Tamar and Vince.
When she got a lot of backlash from this tweet, a week later Melissa tweeted an article from a former member of Dream, Alex Chester. There were many things people noticed when Melissa tweeted this article. First, this article was published months prior (September 25, 2017). After comparing this article with Melissa’s original tweet, it became very clear she read this piece before posting hers. Now, no one was thinking Melissa never had a hard time in the industry and was put through a lot to be what their managers thought was an “ideal popstar”
But let’s look at what really stood out (unbolded text) from this article relating to Melissa’s tweet.
“One might argue that KPop portrays the music industry in a satirical light, and unless you’ve actually been part of that scene you’d never believe how abusive and backstabbing it is. However, watching this show was enough togive me a PTSD flashback from my time spent in the pop group Dream.
When I was in P Diddy’s Dream I worked 12-hour days, I was forced to be on an extreme diet and exercise regiment. We ran 6 miles every day on top of dancing 4-8 hours a day. My calorie intake was constantly being monitored, my waist size scrutinized, my weight daily jotted down.
KPop‘s girl group Special K and MwE (played by Ashley Park), our producer (Vincent Herbert– Lady Gaga’s producer) pitted us against each other.
And I know it’s probably one of the many reasons why I have an anxiety disorder and depression. To this day when I go into a recording studio I start to panic.”
There’s no doubt in my mind that being in the music industry is a tough place for a child – or anyone – to be. No matter the group or artist, I have heard similar stories. The running and exercise were likely to build stamina, as I have heard many performers describe similar experiences. However, Alex’s mother got her out of this situation. These were kids who did have parents, legal guardians present as they were underage. You ultimately decide whether or not that is a price you are willing to pay to be a star, or if you want to take a chance to go somewhere else, and hope you get treated differently. I have no blame for a child in this instant obviously. But this is for a whole other conversation about the music industry and how tough they are on kids to be perfect in order to make it in the industry. And as consumers, we may be to blame. We have wanted to see perfection, so they have to work hard to get there.
All that aside. What many people found strange and disturbing was how similar Melissa’s tweet was to this article. Sure, they had similar experiences, but how likely is it that they both have similar triggers of being in the recording studio? How likely is it that they both experience PTSD? She basically mentioned bits and pieces from this article, changed a few things and applied it to her own “experience” or “story” of abuse. What was it about the recording studio? In Melissa’s explanations, she doesn’t even talk about why the recording studio gave her “PTSD”, she talked about being put on strict diets and exercise.
This tweet did get her a lot more attention, hundreds of new followers on twitter, and an array of sympathy from people online. She also made headlines again after Vincent’s wife, Tamar Braxton called her out on twitter, calling her a thirst bucket.
I’m also going to post a section from an interview Dream had in 2016 when they had their reunion tour.
Not only here do they recognize that controlling weight was something that was part of the “business” standards, this was also an opportunity for Melissa to speak out about her experience if it was as bad as she made it seem, and as important to her to value change in the industry.
This isn’t the only time we’ve seen some similarities in stories Melissa has posted. If we look at Melissa’s first blog post dealing with sexual harassment in the industry, which was published after the Harvey Weinstein scandal and prior to the Nick allegation, we noticed a few similarities:
“I stared at myself alone in the bathroom looking at my reflection while holding the barely there fabric.” (Harvey Weinstein – sexual harassment blog)
“That’s where I saw myself, my reflection, watching myself do something that I was sicken by. Watching myself be assaulted, forced to engage in an act against my will.” (Nick blog)
“I was 18. I panicked. I freaked. I froze.” (Harvey Weinstein – sexual harassment blog)
“I went limp, turned my head to my left and decided I would just go to sleep now.” (Nick blog) Remember later, she also claimed she “froze”, and often speaks of her reaction to the alleged rape in the same way as above (the Harvey Weinstein blog).
Coincidence?
We know there are a lot of inconsistencies in this story. Let’s say Melissa did tell everyone she knew, including the roommate and roommates mother (again, not mentioned in her original blog). That still does not mean what she actually told those people was what actually took place that night. It very well could have been regret from what she had done the night before. It is not unusual for someone who is as religious as Melissa is, who held their virginity so dear to them, to feel regret if they didn’t keep that promise to themselves. She mentioned numerous times how important saving herself was and the fact that everyone knew about it; being ashamed of what happened can make you actually question what happened. You wake up alone and realize what was so important to you, was clearly not as important to the person you gave it to, so much so that they weren’t even there the next morning. It can leave anyone hurt, confused, angry, and regretful. A range of emotions can go through a person that you can even convince yourself you didn’t want it, and that you had no choice, it was forced upon you. What’s also unusual is that Melissa explains everyone knew how important her virginity was to her, but when her close roommate finds her in bed, was she not wondering what happened? Instead, she says her friend exclaimed how much fun she had.
Melissa claims in her story that she did want to press charges. She also refused to take a rape kit. This is one thing that could have been used as evidence, which she refused to do. She says it was because she did not want to be violated again. Could it also have been because they may not have found forceful entry and she decided to say she could not handle going through that?I’m not saying that’s what happened, but something to think about. It is not an easy thing to go through, many people have had experiences. But it is also something that is very important if you want to press charges.
Melissa also mentioned that she didn’t fight because she thought Nick was too “powerful” and she didn’t want to ruin her career. At that time, Nick (and BSB) were already on a decline. He was not an A-list boy band member anymore, but yes, still really famous. There would have been some backlash (there always is) but he was no Harvey Weinstein. He was no A-lister. No matter what, if this came out back then, it would have been a big deal. It would have hurt his career as well. But she says her career was more important to her.
Careers became more important. Or maybe, she had expectations with Nick. It is not unusual for celebrities to have relationships set up for the sole purpose of publicity. She says Nick called her prior with interest. Maybe years later as they were on a set together, both single now, they had discussions about that. Maybe things didn’t work out in that department the way Melissa wanted them to. Again, these are just assumptions. So many things go on in the industry that we will never know. Maybe things didn’t work out the way she had planned, and while she felt anger that she invested in the possibility that Nick could help her career; she let it go, self-serving convenience, if you will. That was until this movement came along. That was until these brave woman came along to tell their story and get a lot of recognition from the entire world for their bravery. That was until people made it clear if you came out with a story, you would be believed, and anyone who did not believe you were “victim shaming”. Yes, a lot of good came from this movement. But with anything, there are those who see a trend and use it to their advantage. It’s sad that it happens. But it does.
Remember that Melissa did pretty much blame Nick for the collapse of her solo career.
“I could tell by his tone that he was no longer interested in working for me and I couldn’t help but wonder if Nick had any influence in it.”
“I never did another showcase again after that and I quickly lost interest in pursuing a career as a recording artist.”
And if we look back to the tweet Melissa shared about Vincent Herbert, he was essentially to blame for her getting PTSD from the recording studio.
On Dr. Oz Melissa said, “I don’t want to be known for this. I’m an actress, I’m a singer. Who wants to be known for being raped.” She also claimed that when she wrote the blog, she didn’t want it to get very “big” and gain a lot of attention. She only did it to “free” herself. And yet, she is appearing on national television, telling the story to the whole world. She also retweeted her blog post again when it wasn’t gaining a lot of readers. She originally posted it mid-October, it got picked up by the media November 21st. Did she really think if she wrote a blog saying Nick Carter raped her, it wouldn’t make headlines? No, she knew. She just went about it in a very smart way, not going directly to the media, writing a simple blog post and saying ‘I didn’t want or think this would get much attention’. But of course there was this planned television appearance not long after.
If you look at her social media as well you would see that the me too movement is what she has devoted all her time to now. Literally every tweet. Before then, it was her youtube series, random old clips of her performing. Nothing about abuse, sexual harassment, being an advocate for women. Not until her story made headlines.
When she was asked on Dr. Oz what she would say to Nick:
“I forgive you, I don’t want anything from you. I wish you only the best. I don’t want your money. I didn’t do this to hurt you or your family, I did this for me.”
Why is she bringing up money? Did she get paid for her appearance on Dr. Oz?
She forgives him, and she is saying she doesn’t want anything, and wishes him only the best. Hmm… well after that appearance her actions on twitter have told a very different story.
In addition to this, following her public accusation she has followed and tweeted out to Nick’s ex-girlfriends. She somehow traced and liked tweets from Nick’s mother, tweets from months ago (she unliked them later the same day). Many fans of Nick had no idea about Nick’s mother on twitter. Whether that is actually Nick’s mother, we don’t know for sure, but in the description she says she is.
In reality, it doesn’t matter who was told, what they were told, when they were told, or how they were told. They were not there. But what remains to be true is that there are two people who believe things happened differently. And no one can say for sure what happened if you were not in the room. We base our opinions on the information provided to us.
What exactly does Melissa want?
Unfortunately, she did not go to court. There is no evidence that he did this. It is unfair to expect people to label him guilty and demand he lose his livelihood. What do we hope for people who do go to jail for a crime like this if done in the way she’s told? We hope they serve whatever time, reflect on what they did, and come out a better person. A person who learns from what they did and devotes their life to being a better person. This happened 15 years ago. Nick’s had a lot of ups and downs, been through a lot. One thing is for sure; he is not the same person he was 15 years ago, I don’t think he is the same person he was a year ago. Each day should be spent trying to be better than the day before, and in our eyes, that is something Nick has proven he is doing. Was he a jerk sometimes when he was younger? Yes. Were there times he used women just for sex? Yes. Has he admitted that? Yes. Did he wake up one day and say, “this isn’t me, I don’t want to be this person anymore”? Yes. This is not saying Nick was a horrible person back then, he wasn’t, quite the opposite actually. He may have had an epiphany. Moments when he may have angered some women for having essentially a one night stand with them and then leaving, leaving them feeling used and angry. Women do tend to feel more regret and shame with casual sex compared to men.
Many people bring up statistics for false allegations and say “believe every victim because statistically, false allegations are rare”. Even though numbers are small, they dostill happen. Many statistics aren’t reliable and there are a variety of ways they are collected. Most statistics report PROVEN false cases average 2-10%, PROVEN true cases vary but average 35%, the rest are UNFOUNDED, WITHDRAWN cases (usually over 50% of cases). Most people do not specify true/unfounded cases which gives the illusion that true cases are above 90%. How do we distinguish when a person falls in the 2-10% if we brush off that possibility altogether? Are there statistics relating to false accusations in Hollywood? Hollywood has never had a movement like this, such a safe place to come forward. There has never been a time when people have stated: “Believe all women, no matter what.” Unfortunately this logic is flawed and extremely dangerous, especially in an industry where you can make headlines and become well known for coming forward. You can revive your career and get to go on shows like Dr. Oz to share your story to the world. On the flip, the one accused will be publicly humiliated and potentially have their career destroyed. A normal person who comes forward does not get media attention. We should be analyzing allegations and we shouldn’t automatically assume guilt. There shouldn’t be fear that false allegations will ruin the movement. It does a disservice to true victims. It also does a disservice to those who have not done anything wrong, and are being falsely accused.
It doesn’t matter if one person comes forward, or if 10 come forward against a person. It only makes it easier to jump on that bandwagon and say “me too!”, if someone has already done it before you. It makes it easier for people who are bitter. Each person and each case needs to and should be looked at separately. There have been too many inconsistencies in this story to take it for what it is. If anyone who was on a jury would be able to say without a reasonable doubt that Nick is guilty, I would be shocked.
If Melissa did not want the attention and claims she wants “all the best” for Nick, she could have handled this in a different way. What would have happened if Melissa had just reached out to Nick? If she didn’t want the exposure or publicity. Nick may be understanding, but does anyone respond well to being attacked, or having someone want to ruin their life when they believe they have done nothing wrong? No matter how I actually feel about what happened, I still don’t want Melissa’s life or career to be ruined. My ultimate wish would be for some actual healing between both of them. Does that mean putting aside differences, getting together and trying to heal together? Who knows. I know that would be something admirable in the current climate of ending careers, revenge and blaming. When do we take a step back and say, I will be that person who does things differently? I will be the person who does forgive (and I mean on both sides). I will be the person who will try to be my best self going forward.
While Nick has not spoken out publicly about this aside from his original statement—denying the allegation and stating it was consensual—he did post this on Twitter. If you read the lyrics, I think it sends a clear message.
The alleged “rape”:
As we’ve mentioned, there are only two people who know what happened on the night of question. We are basing this on Melissa’s account of things while noting there’s no actual proof this is what actually took place. This section is not intended to shame any actual victims of rape but look into Melissa’s narration of events in this particular case to what many people found questionable.
“He went to his computer and started to play the music he was working on, he turned off the light and we sat there in the computer light listening to his new stuff. And naturally we started to kiss. He was aware that I was a virgin and that I held to religious conservative christian values. I was vocal about this. Everyone knew about this, including those who repped me.”
Melissa states here that “naturally we started to kiss”, basically confirming that she did have an interest in Nick. She states that Nick knew she was a virgin and that it was important to her, but she doesn’t explain how Nick would know this. Did she mention it then as they were kissing? So, did the conversation move to going further than kissing, or is she assuming again that he must have known because everyone knew?
I won’t get into her actually verbally saying to stop or “no” and whether or not that was actually said throughout the night because there are only two people who would know if it did. There are only two people who have their perception of what happened; who would know how “into” it the other looked, what was said, and what exactly was done in every detail. All we have here is Melissa’s account of things.
What I do want to bring up is the fact that Melissa had a lot of opportunities to get out of the situation she was in. Melissa has stated (not in her blog, but afterwards on twitter) that the reason she didn’t yell, or hit him or do anything of that sort was because she was so terribly afraid of Nick that she was frozen in fear. She said this of course after everyone wondered why she didn’t and went along with things, they also wondered why she followed him into different rooms.
First of all, let’s think about 2003 Nick. She stated many times that before, in all her interactions with Nick, he was a nice guy. In general, if I am being honest, I’d be surprised if anyone was that afraid of Nick at that time. I think if asked to stop, Nick would likely feel embarrassed more than anything, but that’s just an opinion. As they were moving to their other room, why couldn’t Melissa just have said: “Let’s play a video game.” “Let’s see what the others are doing?” “I need to use the bathroom?”. She didn’t try anything to get out of the situation, she followed him from room to room, which may have made Nick think she was really into him. Did she also freeze in every room and then unfreeze over and over again? In addition to that, there was someone who knocked on the door.
“I couldn’t leave. It was evident to me, that i couldn’t leave. He was stronger and much bigger than me, and there was no way I would be able to open that door or have anyone help me. My friend couldn’t help me, I didn’t even know where she was.”
This was in the second bathroom (they moved from one bathroom to another bathroom, to a bedroom), she had an opportunity to leave and get out of it, but instead decided to follow him into the bedroom. Now, many of the people who have contributed to this blog are victims themselves, and most described this as something they wish they had. They wished there was more than one opportunity to get out of the situation. They wished for someone to knock on that door. They wished to get out of that room and be able to call out to their friend. Anything. Again, this is her truth, and there is no mention of force used to lead her into the different rooms.
“Same as before his appetite was still not satisfied and now took me to the bedroom.”
If Nick’s goal was rape, why would he have even given her the opportunity to escape, let alone parade her around the apartment when witnesses were present? Someone who knows, and intends bodily harm to another person is not going to take unnecessary risk like that. Moving rooms is a perfect escape opportunity. If she did freeze one time, maybe it’d be believable, but three separate times – really unusual. Melissa is claiming that in a non-consensual situation, the rapist manages to (non-forcibly) transport the victim into different rooms while other people are present and the attack physically escalates. Not to mention the time taken to remove and reapply their clothing over and over, or they were walking around half naked. The fact that she says she had no less than three opportunities to escape and didn’t even try, is really telling.
Melissa never mentions freezing in her blog, she doesn’t describe any force, nor does she mention any threat of force or harm. What else would have been keeping her there, or have her so terrified of her attacker?
Melissa does state that:
“He was heavy, too heavy to get out from under him”
So, is she saying that she tried here? Or was it what she said later where she didn’t do anything because she was frozen in fear?
“The sun began to come up and my roommate came into the room and woke me up. We had to get home because she had work later that morning. My abuser was nowhere to be found. He was no longer on the bed and I never went looking for him. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.”
The “sun began to come up” signaling it was the next morning. She went to sleep there with Nick and the next morning was when she “wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.” Not sure why she didn’t try to leave before then if she was so terrified of Nick, and couldn’t wait to leave. Many victims of rape are so afraid of a repeat attack, they wouldn’t miss an opportunity to escape.
Feel free to leave any comments, I won’t be posting them. For those of you who have already left them, thanks for the feedback.
The most dangerous liars are those who think they are telling the truth.
Never argue with a liar. You can’t win, because they believe their own lies.
A Closer Look: The Nick Carter & Melissa Schuman Case 