Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
I’m tired of finding out that people I respected are assholes.
I’m a firm believer that the media we consume affects us and shapes us. The creators, writers, and to a lesser extent the performers, touch us and leave their mark. It’s a horrifyingly intimate experience.
Because of that, we start to identify with, idolize, and even worship celebrities. In it’s worse cases, it leads to forgetting that those people are human and thinking they owe you their attention. A recent example is what happened to Chappell Roan. On the opposite spectrum, we have celebrities that actively try to hurt minorities, like Trump, Musk, and Rowling.
In the best case, we start to forget that a celebrity is more than what they appear to be. The recent news that Dave Grohl is a serial adulterer, or that Neil Gaiman is a creep shows that they are flawed people who managed to hide the worst parts of themselves from the world for a while.
Some people argue that they are creating a product and it doesn’t matter. In the case of Grohl, I feel like that’s between him, his wife, and his mistresses. Frankly, if it was all consensual, I really don’t care. When the celebrity is actively hurting people, it’s harder for me to forgive.
The problem is worse with writers, because their attitudes are reflected in their art. There are anti-trans, homophobic, and anti-Semitic passages in the Harry Potter books. There are sexist and misogynistic themes in Joss Whedon’s work. And I’m sure if we did a deep dive into Gaimain’s works, we’d find some concerning ideas of consent and sex.
You can’t divorce the work from the artist but you can acknowledge it and work to better yourself.
It’s easy to think this is all new but it’s not. There’s a nearly forty-year-old song by the band Styx called “Show me the Way” and it has a line that still strikes me as relevant.
And every day I’m more confused as the saints turn into sinners
Show me the Way by Styx
All the heroes and legends I knew as a child have fallen to idols of clay
And I feel this empty place inside so afraid that I’ve lost my faith
As long as we idolize people, we are going to be hurt. Power corrupts and worship is a form of power. And a lot of people are jerks even without that power.
Is there a way to love art without hurting when the artist turns out to be some degree of monster? I don’t know, but if you find out, let me know.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
P.S. Please don’t support creators that are actively hurting people.
