Derrick May might have been a good person once. It’s hard to know. I struggle with the idea that a person is born evil, but I definitely know that people can be corrupted along the way. There are others who know May personally – they’re more in a position to comment on that.

One thing he can certainly be called – four letter expletives aside – from the perspective of an observer like me, is a survivor. You don’t get this far without being able to adapt to a situation and survive. For example, May sometimes does gigs where he appears to play his own songs live. The fact that he can’t actually play the piano doesn’t seem to have stopped him.

Last week, I reported that May had persuaded a judge to dismiss a defamation action against Michael James. This was even though it was May himself that instigated the action. Why would you drop an action that you instigated yourself?

There are a few possibilities, but the most likely is that May has gone into survival mode. He faces legal actions elsewhere – for instance, Derrick May still faces a $6 million dollar lawsuit for a rape he is alleged to have committed in Toronto in 2004.

This legal action was brought forward by no less than Gloria Allred. Given her success rate, May might well be terrified of facing such an adversary. I know I would be.

He also has a lawsuit currently being brought against him by the mother of his own children. How much has he fallen in order for that to happen? Like every other rat, May has good survival instincts. Chances are he’ll manage to resolve this one somehow too.

Nonetheless, he now faces an uncertain future where he never knows where the next allegation is going to come from. It’s only going to get harder and harder to persuade the world that all these women are wrong when their numbers keep adding up. And let’s not even get onto the subject of his career – most likely now damaged permanently.

Where did it all go wrong for you, Derrick?