Celebrity Rhetoric and Sexual Misconduct Cases: Discursive Self-Cleaving (Routledge Focus on Communication Studies) - Softcover

McDonnell, Andrea

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1032461136 ISBN 13: 9781032461137

Publisher: Routledge, 2025

Synopsis

This book considers the rhetorical strategies used by celebrities and their surrogates and attorneys when faced with claims of sexual misconduct.

During the past five years, a series of public figures has claimed that their celebrity persona is distinct from their “real” self as a way of eluding allegations of sexual misconduct in the courthouse and in the court of public opinion. This book examines three case studies in which such claims were employed, namely Terry Bollea/Hulk Hogan, President Donald Trump/Reality Show Host Donald Trump, and R. Kelly/Robert Kelly, to assess the mediated and legal communicative strategies used and their potential implications. Using a technique which the author calls “discursive self-cleaving,” these stars strategically craft statements on social media, in the press, and in the courtroom to create a discourse that works to shift blame away from their behavior. The book also traces the relationship between these discursive approaches and the politics of sexual violence and domestic abuse during the early months of the #MeToo movement and beyond.

Providing a richly detailed analysis of how this discourse functions and why jurors and members of the public find it convincing, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the field of communication studies, rhetoric, media, law, and popular culture studies.

About this title

About the Author

Andrea M. McDonnell is Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Communication Minor at Providence College, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1032461136
• ISBN 13: 9781032461137
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 110