ID's Fallen Idols Walks a Thin Line Between Platforming Victims and Exploiting Them

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Investigation Discovery’s Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter is by no means an easy watch. As the title suggests, the four-part docuseries — which premieres May 27 on ID and Max — follows the tumultuous lives of Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter and his younger brother, the late Aaron Carter, also a former teen pop star. The series explores their respective struggles and controversies, including the sexual assault and rape allegations against Nick.

Documentaries that center on trauma, sexual assault, and abuse are difficult to pull off sensitively. The doc don’t necessarily seem ill-intentioned — directors Tara Malone and Natasha Bowler listen to what Nick’s alleged victims have to say while acknowledging the harsh realities of addiction, mental illness, and growing up in the spotlight. But although the docuseries gives survivors a platform, it ultimately still feels exploitative.

Fallen Idols features interviews with three of Nick’s accusers: Ashley Repp, Shannon “Shay” Rupp, and Melissa Schuman (a former member of the group Dream). All three women have filed lawsuits against Nick (who declined to be interviewed for this doc) alleging sexual assault and battery. The Backstreet Boys singer has repeatedly denied the allegations, and he’s also filed a countersuit of his own claiming that the trio conspired to defame him. 

In the interviews, the women recount the alleged incidents, psychological effects, and shame they dealt with in the aftermath, and the intense backlash they faced from the Backstreet Boys fandom when they went public with their accusations. Their stories are graphic and deeply upsetting to listen to, especially since the alleged assaults occurred when they were just teens. “I was so drunk [that] I had no control over my body,” Ashley, who alleges that Nick raped her when he was 23 and she was 15, recalls. “He just didn’t seem to care.” 

While ID Discovery has tackled dark topics and sensitive subjects in the past, the interviews in Fallen Idols go into a level of detail that doesn’t always feel necessary. The series is only four episodes long, but it packs in so many awful and upsetting revelations that there’s barely any time to absorb the gravity of them. These women absolutely deserve to be heard, but at a certain point, it feels more like we’re binge-watching their trauma than actually listening to what they have to say. There’s a thin line between sharing survivors’ stories and exploiting them, and this edges dangerously close to the latter.

The docuseries also makes some strange choices, like including brief interviews with self-professed Backstreet Boys “superfans” who don’t believe the allegations against Nick. One could argue that the directors were trying to be balanced, but giving a platform to random fans who don’t believe Nick did it simply because he says so adds nothing of substance and undermines the integrity of the project. 

They also interview a family friend, Jen, who’s adamant that Nick isn’t guilty. She claims that it doesn’t line up with what she knows about him, and makes a point of saying that she would be able to recognize such behavior because she’s a survivor herself. This feels like an especially dangerous argument to include without any pushback — being a survivor doesn’t give you authority to decide whether or not someone else is a “real” victim. Unfortunately, this mindset is all too common (anyone who was on the internet in 2022 can recall the same thing being said about Amber Heard). 

The central focus of Fallen Idols is all over the place. While the docuseries does dedicate a lot of screentime to the allegations against Nick, it also tries to cover nearly every aspect of the Carters’ lives: their rise to fame, difficult childhood, tumultuous sibling relationship, and Aaron’s death (he died of an overdose in 2022 at just 34 years old). It’s true that Aaron’s story is intrinsically tied to Nick’s — he made headlines for speaking out in support of his brother's accusers, and Nick and his wife later filed a restraining order against him alleging that he threatened them. However, all of this is far too much to pack into four episodes, and combining both brothers’ stories into one docuseries makes for a confusing, jumbled experience that undercuts the survivors’ stories.

Despite the upsetting subject matter, the series is still very much framed as entertainment. The closing credits include resources and hotline numbers for survivors, but then also casually plug a website inviting viewers to read court documents from Nick’s attorneys. To say it comes across as jarring would be an understatement. In between the interviews and serious discussions, there’s also media clips that feel out of place tonally, like snippets of Aaron’s single “I Want Candy.” 

It’s admittedly very difficult to make an “objective” documentary about this, especially when Aaron is no longer alive, Nick has declined to be interviewed, and the lawsuits against Nick are still ongoing. And like ID Discovery’s recent Quiet on Set series, Fallen Idols doesn’t have any real answers or solutions to offer. “There needs to be a reckoning in the music industry, but it is really scary to dismantle this dysfunction,” Melissa says.

Ultimately, while Fallen Idols gives survivors a platform and sheds light on some important issues, it’s hard to say if it’s more helpful than harmful. There may not be a clear-cut “right” way to tackle these types of stories, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep striving to do better.

Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter premieres across two nights on May 27 and May 28 from 9:00 P.M. - 11:00 P.M. ET on ID and streaming on Max.

Kelly Martinez is a TV Reporter based in Los Angeles. Her previous work can be found at BuzzFeed and People Magazine, among other outlets. She enjoys reading, spending time with her cat, and explaining the plot of Riverdale to people.