What is it called when a highly respected person commits an immoral act but people don't believe that he committed the act?
I was wondering. It just came up. It has no real world relevancy. An example:
A highly respected businessman commits child abuse and one day his wife finds out about it. She shares what she had found out about with the circles of the businessman. But they don't think he's guilty or that he would commit such an act. Similarly the man easily slips, without getting dirt on his coat and with pride.
Is the situation I stated has a definitive word for it? Is there a word for the attitude of the man and/or his circle?
This is an instance of the Halo effect:
Halo effect is a cognitive bias in which an observer's overall impression of a person, company, brand, or product influences the observer's feelings and thoughts about that entity's character
The businessman is respected in his profession, so everyone thinks his character, including his conduct towards children, must be respectable.
The attributive noun Teflon (semi-genericised) is often used:
Teflon
- Trademark. a fluorocarbon polymer with slippery, nonsticking properties: used in the manufacture of electrical insulation, cookware coatings, etc. ...
- characterized by imperviousness to blame or criticism: a Teflon politician.
{RHK Webster's}
It would make of Gorbachev's stewardship a truly Teflon chairmanship, demonstrating that no Soviet actions, regardless of how egregious, will cling to him
(New Republic; same link).
'Teflon Don' cleared of three killings will have his £2m home seized as High Court judge brands him a drug dealer
{Mail Online}
The phrase above the law is also relevant:
above the law [Prepositional phrase]
(idiomatic) Exempt from the laws that apply to everyone else.
The emperor is above the law.
{Wiktionary}
He thinks he's above the law BECAUSE people treat him as if he's above the law.[of G W Bush]
{Perspectives}