Nelly's Sexual Assault Case Dropped

Photo from Variety article in context of rape lawsuit

Standard photo of Nelly from Rap-Up

Rachel Yang of Variety reported yesterday that the sexual assault lawsuit that a woman brought against Nelly last year is now dropped. Apparently, there was no resolution of any sort, the accuser just was unwilling to go forward with the trial due to immense public scrutiny and personal attacks that she believed she would face. This is unfortunately not surprising amidst the hearings surrounding Brett Kavanaugh and the public response at this moment. Women who come forward about sexual assault are still heavily demonized and inherently untrusted due to our heteropatriarchal society. Women see other women coming forward about sexual assault and feel slight amounts of encouragement for a moment. However, once the inevitable backlash occurs in the public sphere, they are more fearful about the consequences of reporting than ever.