Morissey, Michael Jackson, there are so many famous and talented people who have done or said deplorable things. to what extent can we separate the art from the artist and when do we need to start holding people accountable?
I have not seen any solid proof to convince me that MJ did anything; he may have been weird but even some of the alleged victim's stories did not add up. I think it had more to do with MJ getting that Sony catalog. With that said, I rarely separate artist from art. I cannot support someone who has low values, no matter how good their art is. If I support the art, then I indirectly support the artist and immoral behavior. – Montayj792 years ago
Though I agree on the content bit that there's not many great examples of truly talented artists who almost revolutionized their field and then did something utterly deplorable - this is a great topic in my opinion. It's much more likely that an artist (especially in music) falls to grace over time gradually and it shows in the quality of their work, or the world just changes (in cinema or art more often than other media). But if someone is able to find examples of artists who didn't fall from grace that way but did something socially deplorable, this could make into a fantastic read. We don't even need to analyze "why" this happens - there's no formula. For example, many rockstars have died of drug overdose or suicides but even that cannot be generalized as a phenomenon even though there is a "27 club". To the best of my limited knowledge, Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett is someone who can fit the description - truly talented who created experimental work that is still relevant, and fell from grace in an almost socially deplorable way. I think even if we discuss these people the article could be amazing. Not precisely people who did groundbreaking work and then something truly unspeakable - but rather people who had a lot of potential, did great work, but fell from grace due to not unspeakable but still socially deplorable ways such as drugs, violence, pride. – Abhimanyu Shekhar2 years ago