From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisha bum/bad rapa bum/bad rapespecially American English informalUNFAIR unfair treatment or punishment Cleveland always gets a bum rap in the press. → rap
Examples from the Corpus
a bum/bad rap• She said social programs of the 1960s have gotten a bad rap in the 1990s.• They got me on a bum rap.• Yalta's bad name was in some ways a bum rap. 