This past weekend, a story broke about house music sensation Lady Zamar opening a rape case against musician ex-boyfriend Sjava.

Although the case was opened last November, media only got wind of it recently. The response to Lady Zamar’s allegations was devastating, albeit not shocking. Multitudes of social media users launched attacks on the young woman, accusing her of being an attention-seeker and being hell-bent on destroying the career of the BET-award winning Sjava.

I wish I could claim to be shocked by this response – but I am not. The script is so familiar that had the public’s response deviated from it, had people rallied behind Lady Zamar, I would have been utterly stunned.

I remember when sexual abuse allegations against Bill Cosby came out, multitudes of people rallied behind him, contending that he was a victim of a smear campaign by a white America that was deeply invested in destroying black men.