USA TODAY International Edition
How do you separate an artist’s views from the art?
We all make mistakes. But that doesn’t excuse people from making racist or otherwise hateful commentary – especially celebrities with large platforms.
The 1975’ s Matty Healy invites controversy with him on tour, from eating raw meat onstage to consensually kissing fans. But his racist and hateful conduct, too, has been gaining steam online. This year, he made fun of multiple ethnic groups on a podcast.
“The 1975 fans will bend over backwards to defend matty healy, even if it means ultimately having to defend a racist,” one Twitter user wrote. Another added: “I no longer love Matty healy! Being racist isn’t funny.” USA TODAY has reached out to a rep for The 1975 for comment.
Elsewhere, people haven’t forgotten about when country star Morgan Wallen was caught on video saying a racist slur two years ago; Wallen apologized and his career has since skyrocketed.
Can you separate art from the artist?
In recent years, with the rise of the # MeToo movement and a more public reckoning for stars who behave inappropriately, fans have been faced with the question: Can you separate the art from the artist? The answer requires introspection, and should be handled on a case- by- case basis.
“It is crucial for fans to actually grapple with these situations themselves and not have their positions decided for them by political or religious leaders and organizations,” says Glen Robert Gill, associate professor, of classics and general humanities at Montclair State University. “These judgments should not be made instantly or by proxy.”
What to consider when separating art from the artist
Healy and Wallen aren’t the first and certainly won’t be the last.
“These instances are simply the latest chapters in the recurrent global novel of white men publicly exhibiting racist behaviors and being positively rewarded,” says Melvin Williams, associate professor of communication and media studies at Pace University.
If you’ve loved an artist since you were young, your memories about them are likely difficult to untangle.
“People say that one should be able to separate the artist from the work, but I can’t deny that my enjoyment of The Smiths and definitely of Morrissey’s work has been compromised by his words, just as I can’t enjoy the Harry Potter books and films in the same way I used to,” says David Schmid, associate professor of English at the University at Buffalo. “At the same time, The Smiths are such a huge part of my life and especially my youth that I can’t stop listening to them altogether even if I wanted to.”
There also are levels to engaging and disengaging with an artist’s work. Just because you’re obsessed with a song from a controversial artist doesn’t mean you’re accepting their views.
“The notion that listening, reading, watching or paying for someone’s art makes one complicit in all of its effects is probably a form of reverse- scapegoating,” Gill says.
Still, “one’s moral compass and tolerance/ intolerance for racist behaviors will influence if one feels ambivalent, guilty or indifferent about supporting a controversial artist,” Williams adds. “Yet, if we pay attention to history, there are far more commercial success and support stories for artists like ( Healy) and ( Wallen) than failure and public cancellations.”
Time will tell whether Healy’s comments will meaningfully alter his fan base. “Indie musicians such as ( Healy) arguably get held to a different/ higher standard, not least because the majority of his fans are perceived as being more liberal and so this kind of thing could potentially do more damage to their career,” Schmid says.
Cancel culture and accountability
Schmid thinks we need to move away from “cancel culture” and focus on accountability.
“It’s more useful/ productive to center conversations about this issue around accountability,” he says. “What does accountability look like? Who/ what are you being accountable to? Answers to those questions can actually move the conversation about artists and racism forward.”
Perhaps that’s why some are proponents of the term accountability culture over the long- lambasted “cancel culture.” “If the move toward accountability culture helps to clarify what the intent is of canceling someone, I’m all for it,” Isabel Araiza, an associate professor of sociology at Texas A& M, Corpus Christi, has told USA TODAY.
Still, the lines may be blurring a bit on accountability – depending who you ask, of course.
Gill says: “Where people were once prone to dump every song of the Dixie Chicks or every role of Kevin Spacey, we are starting to realize that a writer like J. K. Rowling can espouse social views we might disagree with and still produce a cherished book series, and that a comedian like Louis C. K. can do disgusting things and still be incredibly funny.”