Yes, but only in this specific case;

• the artist is dead
• the people profiting from their works don’t have the same beliefs
• the content itself is innocent without the knowledge of the history of the artist
• any continued profits do not go towards funding advocacy groups for their shite beliefs

Most of the time I don’t know the artist, and usually don’t care about knowing them. In the rare cases where I do know them is usually because they’re a PoS. And in those cases I make a point of not giving them money, but that doesn’t mean not enjoying their art. For example Harry Potter has a quote that is very pro-trans, during the scene where everyone drank Polyjuice potion to look like Harry there’s this bit of text:

Hermione looked reassured as she answered Kingsley’s smile

Note that Hermione was in Harry’s body at that moment, so she was a woman in the body of a man, and notice how JK Rowling uses a feminine pronoun there. This means that she fully understands that trans women are women, she’s just a PoS that even understanding that devotes time and money to take away their rights.

It really depends. Is the art reflective of what the creator believes? There are so many things from Neil Gaimen I love, but I think he is an utter shit pile. I love Good Omens and Sandman. But the money will still go to him. That is pretty bad. As for Rowling, I do appreciate Harry Potter and how each book grew up with the kids reading it, but I never could stand the insane commercialization of it all before her stupid and insane comments. And the new series, she has specifically stated that she wants to create it to separate her work from the three that have spoken out against her.

It depends. JKR or Kayne West? Absolutely fucking not. They are such incredibly shitty people, that you can not separate them. I would not even consume there stuff if its pirated. However, I have plenty of pirated music where the artists are complete shitheads, but I still like their stuff. I Would not give them any money for it or would show it to other people, but if its only for myself and pirated its fine.

However if someone still wants to listen to as example Kayne, please just pirate it. He actively uses his money to do malicious things.

Idk about others, but I can’t. I tried, but I couldn’t love it anymore.

Maybe that’s for the better. I was too obsessed with Harry Potter to move on and read other, better books.

Not really, I can distance them in my mind to some degree while still appreciating the art but only if it doesn’t require a bunch of mental gymnastics. J.K is past the level for me because I took positive lessons from her books that she ironically didn’t learn herself. Her stance irl seems to be antithetical to the books, she would be the villain in her own stories.

Kanye… more complicated for me. I can still separate art from artist when I listen to his old work. I’ve struggled with some pretty similar things to him, mental health wise. It’s hard to imagine being in his position. Now he’s apologizing for the nazi shit, and yeah words are great but they need to be followed with actions, and a lot of them. If what he said is true (walking around with an undiagnosed TBI for years) then what he did makes sense, but just apologizing isn’t enough. Not even close. His trump arc did immeasurable damage, so for the apology to feel legit, he needs to put in enough positive work to balance it out plus extra. And I haven’t really seen any actions to follow the apology yet.

The more I like your art, the more I am willing to put up with some bs from you as a person. But the line, for me, is hypocrisy. Because then the art loses meaning as a piece of the artist.

yes

Separating the art from the artist has never been about avoiding the moral complexities of supporting bigots and fascists (financially or just keeping them in the Zeitgeist). It is that authorial intent is not relevant to personal interpretation (aka death of the author). So yes, you can separate the art from the artist but that’s an entirely different thing from what is being argued here.

If you want to argue as to whether their works should be consumed at all - paid for or not - we should absolutely not be separating the artist from the work. There is little value in them that can’t be found elsewhere and capitalists see the enduring popularity of „that fucking book“ and keeping forking over money for the IP, whether people pirated it or not.

Yes, you can separate the art from the artist. No, you cannot separate the act of paying for art from the artist while they still live.

I dunno, I take the approach, to quote Bruce Lee, “Take what works, leave the rest.”

I’m a hopeless idealist in a lot of ways, but I think we cripple ourselves by applying stringent purity tests everywhere in a vain attempt to Never Do Any Wrong Ever.

If you look hard enough, you will find something you dislike or an objectional opinion from any creator of anything, just about. And if you haven’t, it just hasn’t come to light yet. (Hats off to the wholesome BS-avoiding creators out there not being bad to anybody! 💜)

People are, and will always be, imperfect, and while I think we should be aware of authors’ biases or failings when consuming their work, attempting to boycott everything containing an objectional element all the time only serves to make our culture heavily insular and rob oursleves of our own enjoyment in spite of the creator’s personal failings that may have nothing to do with the work in question.

I’m not for supporting someone’s mission in actively being a malicious person, and people should be called out for bad public behavior, but there very much is this twitteriffic phenomenon in recent years where the line gets closer and closer and closer to demanding absolute perfection from people who make stuff, and I think we could all agree there’s a point where it becomes a futile exercise in the ridiculous that only serves to make us more bitter, angry, and cynical.

No. Not as long as the artist gets benefits.

There are billions of meaningful ways to entertain yourself. Don’t be a sheep - it’s your world.

Would you be ok with visiting a cafe that has a bunch of paintings by Hitler on the walls?

I would think largely it depends on how bad the artist is too.

Of course you can, but why would you do that? I believe that it is essential to understand the artist, the art, and their contemporary environment. All together. This is the deepest respect and appreciation that we can show to the arts. If you were to commit any error of omission in studying the art, that is your volition. Ask yourself: what is motivating me to make this decision? It starts and ends with you.

I wanted to add one more thing, I am sorry: I never cared for jk or Kanye to begin with so there is no conflict for me if I decide that I don’t appreciate them as an artist anymore. I do believe that if you raise your artist standards to a high level you will inevitably do less backtracking and have less angst over this subject. Have more respect for yourself and for the arts.

I think as long as you aren’t monetarily supporting them (pirate that shit) or spreading their name and fame (don’t tell your friends and family who the artist is if they ask) then ya sure go ahead and listen to their music and enjoy it.

I wonder how many people in these comments love an artist that someone else finds objectionable / harmful because they just don’t personally empathize with the people their fav has marginalized.