14 DAY TRIAL // Celebrity scandals are a dime a dozen these days, but rarely are they as dark as the one that started with the leak of an audio recording during a therapy session involving actor Stephen Collins, star of the hit TV series “7th Heaven.” Collins, you see, is a pedophile and he openly admitted to it to his wife on said recording.
Hours after news broke, Collins was already experiencing backlash from the industry, in what I believe is just the onset of a huge media storm that will put an end to his career in showbiz for good. Whether the allegations made about him are true or not, whether he’ll be charged with a crime or not, this guy is never working again in showbiz.
Making a distinction between artist and man
This brings us to the question in the headline: should he pay professionally for what he does in his personal life? Should we draw the line and make a clear distinction between Stephen Collins the man and Stephen Collins the actor?
I remember back in 2009, when Chris Brown put his then-girlfriend Rihanna in the hospital in a fit of rage, how he would lose contract after contract and there were calls to boycott his career. His fans stood up for him and claimed that he was an artist besides being a man, and that the artist should not pay for whatever the man does.
Right now, no one is speaking up for Collins (I’m not about to either, don’t worry), but his “7th Heaven” co-stars have already talked to the press to hint that the allegations might not be true, because he’s “a good guy” and he never showed any signs of inappropriate behavior. As if a pedophile would write the word on his forehead for all the world to know!
The implication here, with what they’re saying, is that we should reserve judgment until the investigation concludes and that we or his peers shouldn’t turn our back on him until that time.
Collins admitted to molesting 3 girls, what is there to doubt about the truth of the allegations?
That’s what it all boils down to: Stephen Collins isn’t just a pedophile, he’s an out of the closet pedophile, if I am permitted this phrase. He came clean to his wife and his therapist about what he’d done and he did it with gruesome details; what’s worse, he showed absolutely no remorse and no regret about his heinous deeds.
Whether he’ll end up charged at the end of the police investigation, whether he’ll be found guilty in a court of law, whether his wife sold the recording to the media as revenge, all this is irrelevant, because Collins admitted with his own words, of his own volition: he molested girls. He exposed himself to them and he tried to get them to do things as well.
As a man (if we’re really bent on making that distinction between artist and man), he’s sick. He needs help and he needs to be locked away, he needs to pay for his crimes. There is a reason why pedophiles are considered the scum of the earth, and that’s because no other criminal commits a more serious crime than robbing children of their innocence by taking advantage of it.
There is no such thing as a distinction between man and artist
There wasn’t one in Chris Brown’s case and there is most definitely none in Collins’. By refusing to punish an artist for whatever the man (or woman, let it be said) does privately, we would be condoning criminal behavior, no matter of what kind it is. It would be like the public would reward criminal acts through continued support of the artist’s work.
At least that’s how I see it; fans are free to disagree with me, but they won’t be able to get me to change my mind. Chris Brown’s fans, not Collins’. At this point, Collins doesn’t have any left – or shouldn’t have, not after the evidence that has been brought to light.
Collins will lose his career in this scandal and he deserves nothing more. He was a respected member of the community, a popular actor, and a beloved celebrity and he abused all of these to force himself upon girls as young as 10.
If I sound like I’m speaking from my high horse, that’s because I was once a fan. I grew up with “7th Heaven” and will have Collins’ image as a loving father and nice reverend forever in my mind. Hearing his confession sent chills down my spine, before repulsion set in. The thought that he’d been “on the loose” for so many years, that the NYPD sat on the recording for 2 straight years and did nothing, is even more infuriating than any other incriminating piece of evidence that’s come to light after the recording.
Collins will lose his career and he deserves no better. He will probably also go to jail and, again, he deserves no better. Sadly, nothing that will happen to him next will make things any better for his 3 victims because, for them, the damage has been irreparable.