Rachel Hazes is a victim of the Barbra Streisand effect

To begin with, a disclaimer: I have absolutely no knowledge of the legal system. Of course, I binged Suits and decided that maybe deep down I should become a lawyer, but I was probably just mostly in love with Harvey Specter. I went through such a phase when I watched Ally McBeal and also when I first saw Legally Blonde. Well, so much for my legal knowledge, and now I still want to say that I find it very special that certain individuals from the court can no longer call someone a ‘cremated croquette.’.

Now, the cases in Suits were also about more spectacular things, although I find the idea that Harvey Specter has to fight for his client so that they can still throw around the term ‘cremated croquette’ a hilarious idea. But well, Yvonne Coldeweijer can no longer do that since yesterday, and if she does, she even has to pay a fine to the croquette in question: Rachel Hazes.

Rachel Hazes is extremely pleased with that ruling, but... Should she be? What I see here is the Barbra Streisand effect at its peak: the world-famous singer once made a huge fuss about the fact that the California Coastal Records had published photos of her house, which she did not want for privacy reasons. Not an unreasonable demand, but there was one big problem: precisely no one had seen those photos until Barbra Streisand sought out the media because she wanted them removed. Result: everyone with internet in 2003 saw the relevant photos. Exactly the opposite of what Barbra Streisand wanted.

And that is what I see now in this whole process: Rachel Hazes no longer wants to be called a cremated croquette, and the result is that all of the Netherlands will now probably (jokingly) call her that. Example: I was just in the car with my 75-year-old father, who has a strong dislike for just about everything related to RTL Boulevard, and he asked: ‘What do you think of that cremated croquette?’, followed by: ‘Who is Yvonne Coldeweijer anyway, and are we still allowed to call that Hazes woman a cremated croquette? What a fuss.’ Example 2: I had never heard of this term before, and for the past two weeks, not a day goes by without me reading about it at least five times.

Yvonne may have lost the lawsuit, but she has absolutely achieved the Barbra Streisand effect, and I fear that this nickname will stick to Rachel Hazes for a long time.

Image: Insta @rachelhazes