The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs hasn’t even really begun, but it’s already breaking the internet.
Since the rapper’s arrest in September on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, online sleuths have scoured the web for as many sordid details as they can find. They’ve dissected celebrities allegedly connected to Diddy, trying to glean who may or may not have been privy to the rapper’s alleged misdeeds. The terms “Diddy party” and “freak offs” − the latter of which is cited in Diddy’s federal indictment and refers to events where he allegedly directed and coerced people into having sex − have even made their way into our cultural lexicon, appearing in articles and memes. Jury selection is underway, and as the trial continues to ramp up, its grip on our culture will likely only grow stronger.
All this begs the question: What is it with society’s obsession with heinous criminal cases? And what does that fascination say about us?
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Mental health and media experts agree it’s not shocking that yet another celebrity trial has taken over our culture. What’s important to remember, they add, is that Diddy’s alleged victims, and those unaffiliated with this trial but who have experienced abuse in their own lives, will be watching how we talk about it.
If the public treats this trial as merely sensationalized spectacle, reduced to talk of “freak offs” and tabloid-style gossip, we risk minimizing the issue of sexual abuse.
The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs hasn’t even really begun, but it’s already breaking the internet.
“A number of outlets, as soon as they even speak about this trial, they’re immediately coupling it with discussions of the ‘freak off,’ ” says Melvin Williams, a professor of communication and media studies at Pace University. “On one hand, it’s certainly presenting it to an audience in a digestible way, but, on the other hand, it’s very problematic.”
Diddy and the fascination with ‘freak off’ parties
The Diddy trial was destined to become a cultural phenomenon.
First, it involves a famous man and disturbing allegations. Plus, no matter who’s involved, humans have a natural tendency to pay close attention to danger and threats, especially if those threats have lurked without detection for so long.
Widespread interest in the case isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. For many viewers, it may offer teachable moments about the complex nature of abuse. It may also expand society’s preconceptions about victims and abusers and demonstrate how abuse can take different forms.
Trauma counselor Jordan Pickell says curiosity in the case may also serve as a coping mechanism for people to feel safer in their own lives. Focusing on the more sensational aspects of the Diddy trial, she says, can be a way for people to “distance ourselves from the reality of violence.”
When we sensationalize the cases, Pickell explains, we don’t have to sit with the horror of what the alleged victims may have endured.
“People are trying to make sense of how this happened,” she says. “Why didn’t anyone do anything? It sounds unbelievable, but this type of organized sexual violence is more common than people think.”
More: ‘Coercive control’ is the phrase you won’t hear about at the Diddy trial. Why it’s still important.
The term “freak offs” in particular, she says, risks trivializing what’s at stake too, turning someone accused of sex trafficking “into a caricature of a deviant to be ridiculed.”
Though some of the abuse described in the case allegedly happened under the guise of a “party,” Pickell encourages people to remember that abuse is still abuse, no matter where it occurs.
Using the term party repeatedly “reflects how badly we want to believe in the myth of mutuality. Because if women chose it, then we don’t have to reckon with the fact that powerful men abused their power to hurt people in such a horrific way.”
Our interest in the Diddy trial and the message it sends
Elizabeth Jeglic, a clinical psychologist specializing in sexual violence, says it’s also worth noting that interest in the trial thus far seems more focused on Diddy than on his alleged victims.
This is to be expected − Diddy’s famous after all. But if all anyone is searching or talking about are the rapper and his alleged “freak off” parties, she says, it could send a harmful message to those who’ve suffered abuse in their own lives: that their experiences aren’t the focus.
More: A psychologist will testify about domestic violence at Diddy’s trial. Why that matters
Pickell encourages people following the trial to remember that “survivors of violence are watching” too.
“They’re watching what gets sexualized, dismissed or made into a joke,” she says. “It’s shaping their sense of what will happen if they ever were to choose to come forward.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy party lore and why the internet is obsessed