Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fallen Idols: Nick And Aaron Carter’ on Max, A Docuseries Detailing Sexual Assault Allegations Against the Backstreet Boy

Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, now streaming on Max, is a four-episode Investigation Discovery docuseries that presents sexual assault allegations against Backstreet Boy Nick Carter made by three different women, discusses the nature of toxic fandom – the kind of people who would shame an accuser online, and dismiss #metoo in favor of a different hashtag, #HisSideToo – and explores the troubled life of Nick’s brother, former teen pop singer Aaron Carter, as well as the history of abuse and series of tragedies that have existed within the Carter family. There are bombshells all over the place in Fallen Idols. But there are also frequent disclaimers – while Nick Carter refused to be interviewed, the docuseries definitely heard from his lawyers.      

FALLEN IDOLS: NICK AND AARON CARTER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: “The sexual assault allegations against Nick Carter are the subject of ongoing litigation…the views expressed are those of the accusers alone…” the stern disclaimers that open Fallen Idols play against a clip of Nick speaking on behalf of his bandmates to a throng of adoring fans. “Backstreet is back, and we aren’t going anywhere!” This is the level of celebrity his accusers are up against.  

The Gist: By the fourth episode of Fallen Idols, Nick Carter will actually be in court and facing his accusers, so this docuseries isn’t so much ripped from the headlines as it is part of the headlines themselves. The producers have even appended legal documents to the series, sent by Carter’s attorneys, that support his version of the story. But there is also Melissa Schuman’s story, and the singer and actress insists that she will not be silenced. Fallen Idols follows Schuman as she revists the Santa Monica apartment complex where, as she alleges, Nick Carter sexually assaulted her in 2003. But it also reconstructs the fizzy climate of pop music and celebrity in the 1990s, when Carter became a boy band sensation with Backstreet Boys and Schuman was part of Dream, a girl group formed by P Diddy and Bad Boy Records. Nick was the youngest and most popular Backstreet Boy, and Schuman was pressured to date him, because her management and label wanted the publicity.  

By 2003, Schuman had left Dream to focus on acting. But it was during the filming of a movie they were both in that the assault in Santa Monica occurred. Through tears, Schuman goes into detail about the incident, and her father Jerry is also interviewed, describing how his daughter lost her love of singing and performing in its wake. In later episodes, Fallen Idols will also introduce Carter accusers Ashley Repp and Shay Ruth, Nick Carter’s ex-girlfriend Kaya Jones, singer and former member of the Pussycat Dolls who has spoken publicly of her support for Schuman, and detail how Nick’s brother Aaron eventually offered his own support of his brothers’ accusers. 

Aaron Carter died at age 34 in 2022, and Bobbie Jean Carter, Aaron and Nick’s sister, died of a drug overdose in 2023. Fallen Idols explores the alcohol abuse that existed in the family, how the Carter kids were put onto a show business track for financial gain, and how the Carters’ dysfunction was exacerbated by the addition of money and fame.“Nick, from what I understand,” says former MTV host (and Decider contributor) Dave Holmes, “saw pop music as his ticket out of a home life that was kinda sketchy.” That his celebrity and status as a member in good standing of the world’s best-selling boy band would eventually serve to insulate him from any accountability is also a contention in Fallen Idols. And from Melissa Schuman’s perspective, the music industry was not in support of her story, and instead seemed to be actively about building an alibi for Carter, a bankable male star.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Sexual assault, the courage to come forward, and the fallout from reporting are all at the heart of the new Spanish drama Raising Voices on Netflix. The Netflix documentary Victim/Suspect explores how police can twist victim statements into reasons for their arrest. And the series Unbelievable adapted the true story of a teenage sexual assault victim who was accused of making false rape claims before she was ultimately vindicated.    

Our Take: “We were at the mercy of adults who were sexualizing me as a teen – we had no say in anything.” Melissa Schuman’s description of her time in the singing group Dream is pretty revolting, especially as it’s contrasted with the boy band stuff from the same era, when young men were depicted as proudly virile objects of sexual attainment while women in girl groups and pop music in general were often publicly shamed. (In the case of Britney Spears, this is inexplicably still happening.) As powerful as Schuman’s decision to come forward is – and it’s only given more strength when in conjunction with the stories of her fellow accusers – it’s the indictment of the entertainment biz as a clearing house of terrible behavior that makes a significant impact in Fallen Idols. “People are like screaming your name with lust,” Dave Holmes says, describing the insanity of the initial Backstreet Boys phenomenon. “It has got to be a super-destabilizing way to grow up.” Nick Carter, already the product of a rocky homelife, was able to transition into an industry that would ignore his track record in favor of juicing the bottom line.

But what about the superfans? Fallen Idols also includes interviews with individuals like Tiffany, Stephanie, and Sam, people whose decades-long devotion to Backstreet Boys informs their denials of the allegations against their heroes. It’s another intriguing angle, and one that speaks to the tactful, measured tone of Idols, which at every turn – there’s another one of those stern disclaimers, dropping right into the middle of an episode – stresses that it is not taking sides in a battle of lawsuits and countersuits that is still ongoing.   

Sex and Skin: Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter includes frank descriptions of sexual assault and violence against women. 

Parting Shot: Once Melissa Schuman made the difficult decision to share her story, she was shocked by the torrent of online negativity that almost immediately followed. “Nothing could have prepared me, my family, or my husband for what was about to happen…”

Sleeper Star: As journalist Scaachi Koul walks us through the 2000s rise of the gossip blogs, it’s a weird look back to a part of pop culture history that feels both super dated and crazy relevant. Nick Carter was dating Paris Hilton, until they weren’t, and then there were blind items and unnamed sources pointing out the bruises she was said to have sustained during their relationship. This was not an opportunity for accountability. Instead, as Koul notes, the gossip blog era perpetuated a kind of celebrity incandescence that muted more serious-minded coverage.

Most Pilot-y Line: Melissa Schuman is describing what she says occurred on that day in 2003. “He put my hand on him, and I opted to do the lesser worse thing. I was scared that if I hadn’t, he would have done something really violent.”

Our Take: Stream it. Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter is an amplifier for the voices of women who are speaking out against sexual assault. But it also functions as a deep dive into the Carter family, how their upbringing contributed to Nick and Aaron Carter’s behavior, and the incessant churn of the entertainment biz, where the danger that lurks can often be codified.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.