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 ?

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EarthlingWise

There's often a narrative in artistic production. It's more detectable in literature and cinema, but it can also be found in pictorial art and in music. Because we look for comfort in art, we may choose to ignore this narrative, although sometimes we do feel a bit uncomfortable about some words, some bias (like who is presented as a victim, who is represented as a villain).
Knowing more about the person can enable us to pinpoint the cause of this discomfort. It can also alert us about a special bias .
So far I can't say I had a traumatic revelation about an artist I used to like. I often had already acknowledged something wrong. But as I get older, I tend to expect grey areas anyway, I'm no longer looking for a saviour.