Edit for reasoning-I tend to enjoy mean spirited funny stuff sometimes. Creators are typically kind of shitty/immoral people but I still enjoy it. I feel conflicted sometimes but still end up watching and enjoying.
Yes, but I will go out of my way not to pay for it.
I can usually separate art from the artist, given that the media in question doesn’t reflect their opinions/isn’t influenced by their actions.
This is why I dropped Harry Potter. And also, I did drop Disturbed (aside from one song, that being Decadence) cause I don’t want to support a band whose lead vocalist literally autographed bombs that were used in children in Gaza.
And also, I did drop Disturbed (aside from one song, that being Decadence) cause I don’t want to support a band whose lead vocalist literally autographed bombs that were used in children in Gaza.
Damn, missed that, too bad. welp at least there’s now more free space on my server.
Sucks bro
That’s the deciding factor for me.
I stopped listening to Lizzo so fucking fast because her actions and her art were in direct contradiction with each other.
Being innappropriate with children will also make me stop consuming media from that person.
Totally agree.
Thats pretty fair
Hitler was, if I’m being 100% honest, an OK painter. Terrible human, could have been a decent architectural artist.
Woody Allen would be more topical and recent.
I struggle with it and am hypocritical about that.
Roman Polanski was convicted of a terrible crime, but I appreciate his work.
Weinstein’s production company made many of my favorite movies.
Kevin Spacey played some of my favorite characters.
EDIT:
And then there is Bill Cosby and OJ Simpson. I love the Naked Gun Movies and both are pure gold on screen.
Bill Cosby’s Chicken Heart routine is so fucking funny it was making me laugh my ass off until the mid 2010s… Now I when I ever I see the album it just makes me sad….
it’s 100% unavoidable. Hollywood breeds psychopathy and Celebrity Status attracts the worst of us and corrupts those with shaky morals.
Power breed psychopathy.
No, power doesn’t breed the mental illness, but it does attract those with that deficiency and give them a massive advantage. When you don’t give a shit about people because of a fundamental lack of empathy, it’s easier to step on everyone around you to make it to the top.
Yeah thats all true and a tough thing to swallow I guess.
I try not to enrich creators who are bad. Like Polanski and Weinstein and Whedon and Besson and Rowling and Gaiman. I might watch/read old stuff, but I’ll avoid spending any money on it.
Then there’s people who aren’t rapists and abusers and virulently homophobic but are still not great. I’m thinking YT creators who pull dumb and mean pranks, or just revel in the more negative aspects of human nature. I don’t watch them, but mostly because I don’t enjoy that sort of content. It makes me depressed and sad. Since I don’t like that sort of content anyway, it’s hardly an effort. Same with MAGA bro podcaster types; I don’t enjoy that garbage so “boycotting” it really just means going about my life per usual.
Generally how I operate too. The key is enriching for me. If you’re a piece of shit who’s alive and collecting royalties, I’ll do everything I can not to add to them. If I already own your creation, I’ll use that instead of streaming/renting/buying. If I don’t, I’ll just find something else.
It’s like when the owners of Chick-Fil-A turned out to be horrendous bigots. Everybody was saying “but there are so many people working there that aren’t homophobic - are you going to hurt them too?” Afraid so. I’m not going to contribute to the success of a hateful person for a fucking chicken sandwich. Working for them is also contributing to the success of those bigots and their efforts in trying to destroy people I love, so I’m afraid I can’t be very sympathetic. The job market for hate needs to have downward pressure on it.
It depends. The artist being a bad person doesn’t automatically make the art bad. But I also don’t want to support bad people. So, relevant questions to me are: Is the artist still alive? Do they profit from my consuming their work? Do I promote them perhaps indirectly? The answers will be different for e.g. Lovecraft vs. Rowling, or rereading a book I already own vs. convincing my book club to buy new copies.
Most people, even those who scream the loudest about human rights, tend to wear sweatshop clothes made by kids who occasionally burn to death because it’s slightly cheaper to not have fire escapes.
Not enjoying an artist who in most cases isn’t even profiting off of my enjoyment just seems silly. I prefer to focus my efforts on the actual harms to which I, like so many of us, really do contribute.
My favourite book is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. My edition has a foreword about how Lewis Carroll really really wasn’t a paedophile, he just loved children very very much. That foreword convinced me that he was a paedophile.
Dr Seuss couldn’t stand children, so he’s at least got that going for him, but he was the standard level of 1950s racist.
Possibly controversial take: I get super turned-off by any content creator who seems to be in it mainly for money.
There are lots of people out there who decided they want to be a youtuber as their profession - and best of luck to them! - but I feel quite safe in saying that almost every youtuber I truly love began their channel not because they wanted to make money, but because they had something to share. They had a passion, or burning thoughts, or knowledge that was too good to keep to themselves, and youtube was a way to voice it.
And they might be profitable now, but that’s not why they started.
So yeah. As soon as I get a smell that the content someone makes or the way they act or the things they say are dictated primarily by dollar signs, rather than by being the thing they truly want to do, I very quickly lose interest.
I was enjoying Sandman until shit went down with the author and it really left a bad taste in my mouth, just kind of dropped it instinctively
Yeah I did finish it because he wasn’t a part of season 2 but still left a bad taste in my mouth.
There’s plenty of good stuff made by decent people out there, I’m fine with dropping someone awful. I also like to think it helps me avoid picking up bad behaviors or internalizing shitty ideas.
Once I think a creator is a bad person, depending on what they did, I have trouble enjoying their stuff.
There are a ton of comedians, for example, that have done varying degrees of bad things that I just can’t listen to anymore. Louis CK, Cosby, any of the podcast bro comedians that got Trump elected, etc are all out. When I hear them perform it is all I can think about.
Same with bands, writers, etc. I just have a nagging feeling in the back of my head reminding me the person is shitty.
Can’t watch Seinfeld because Jerry is a vocal zionist. BUT, I can watch Curb Your Enthusiasm and just skip and Seinfeld feature, so far
Neil Gaiman
Same. I once heard a song I really enjoyed by a band called LostProphets, got the album, and then almost immediately learned that the lead singer was an enormous POS.
Oh yeah that’s such a terrible one.
No. If I have problems with a creator, publisher, etc., I’ll stop consuming. If I previously purchased and own some work (i.e. an album from a band that turns out to be shitty), I will still sometimes engage with that, but no new money is going to them.
It depends on what it is. I generally don’t expect an artist/creator to be what I’d consider a good role model.
Some examples:
Dave Grohl (lead singer/guitarist of Foo Fighters) announced he fathered a child outside of his marriage. I consider this morally wrong, but it has no impact on my enjoyment of the music.
J.K. Rowling being an outspoken transphobe has had an impact on my ability to enjoy Harry Potter. Not that I was ever a super fan, but I enjoyed the movies well enough. But discrimination against an entire group of people is too significant to me to keep the art separate from the artist.
I try to at least not give those people money.
yes and so does everyone. you literally cannot avoid it, stop caring. you will drive yourself insane.
You can still try to minimise your engagement.
i honestly ask why bother? if the art itself contains nothing of the artist’s actions or personal support then let it speak for itself otherwise you have to screen every piece of art you consume even in passing. exhausting. shitty people are everywhere.
Best example is JK Rowling who uses the money she makes with her art to harm people. I don’t want to support that. Also, I think it’s important that shitty people who have public personas experience public consequences so as to deter other shitty people.
That person had a bit of a bad reputation after a bunch of people came forward about how they were molested? But otherwise they kept making money with their art and are now richer than ever? Cool, I’mma go show my genitalia to my secretary again!
That person lost everything when their shittiness became known because people refused to engage with their art? I better think twice about how I treat my subordinates.
I also don’t feel good about consuming art where people had to work together with shitty people and put themselves in danger doing so. No you can’t always decide who you work with.
Yes it can be exhausting to keep track of what to avoid. Tough titties. It’s not as hard as what victims of shitty people have to endure.
again, it’s different if the person is visibly doing harm based on their work or because of it. yeah it’d make sense to cut support. but we’re not talking specifically about people like Rowling, the question is about “bad people” which is a spectrum. an artist you like is probably racist due to certain things uncovered? okay you can stop listening to them but there are 12 other artists you like who are racist and you don’t even know, and let’s say one of those 12 created something instrumental in your life that defined your own love of art. now what?
How does that clash with what I said? I’ll stop supporting them. I might continue listening to the music I already have (if it means that much to me) but I’m not buying anything new.
it doesn’t clash but i never said to apply this to artists whose work is more damaging or is used as such lol. i was responding to your comment is all.
Yeah I suppose thats true.
it sucks and i hate it, but evil people can make great art. the art itself is innocent (unless it portrays the artist themselves) and deserves its own reputation.
