Can you separate art from the artist ?

That is to say, can you appreciate art for its own sake, even if its artist is revealed to be despicable personally, for example, someone who was an excellent musician, actor ot producer but committed sexual assault, cheated on partners, was openly anti-Semitic or racist ?

If some ills are more acceptable to you than others, where do you draw the line ?

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

sarabee1995 · 26-30, FVIP

I generally can't.

sarabee1995 · 26-30, FVIP

My parents loved Bill Cosby. I grew up listening to his standup routines. When all the crap came out, I couldn't listen anymore. 🤷‍♀️

bijouxbroussard · F

@sarabee1995 Same with me. I loved "I Spy" as a child, and someone gave me the DVD set as a gift years before he was disgraced. I had started watching it, but now it sits on the shelf.

sarabee1995 · 26-30, FVIP

@bijouxbroussard It's so sad when these things come out. I don't want to use the word "hero" but these people do become important to us. And then when they fall from grace like this we are so disappointed.

I get that no one is perfect... certainly not I... but some of this stuff is just way over the line. Obviously the #MeToo stuff is particularly irritating to me.

craig7 · 70-79, M

@bijouxbroussard I also watched "I Spy" back around the mid-'60s - after Bill Cosby's break-through role in that series,I always admired his work and contribution both on,and importantly off-screen.Naturally I was extremely disappointed when he was exposed much later on ; I had thought
- clearly wrongly - that he was better than that.