With the case against R.Kelly blowing up again earlier this week, people are once again musing on exactly how far of a stand one must take when it comes to suffocating the income streams of celebrities whose private actions reveal themselves to be abusive or exploitative. Is it possible to condemn the creator while appreciating the art they offer to the world
How does one separate the two
Take Roman Polanski, a man whose actions have been deplorable. Yes, he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl over 30 years ago. Yes, after admitting to it, he fled America and escaped to an opulent Swiss chalet. Yes, he and his supporters have spent those 30 years bemoaning his loss of status in Hollywood and attempting to rally support so that his return may be facilitated, an exiled champion returning to the city which unfairly thrust him out.
Can one accept all this as truth and still appreciate films like The Pianist, Rosemary’s Baby and Carnage, even while reviling the man who made them Art can and should be able to stand separately from its creator, meaning different things to each and every person who consumes it; understanding the complexities of this necessarily means accepting that there is an immutable space between art and artist that cannot be crossed.
It’s a troubling quandary for those of us whose politics force us to take a moral stand against abuse.
But the lines between ‘art’ and its ability to garner enormous financial dividends are also blurred (as Robin Thicke might have it). In an article, Amanda Hess explores the possibility for backlash against artists like Lady Gaga and Beyonce, both of whom have recently collaborated with men with solid reputations for abusing women.
Lady Gaga is shortly to release a duet with R.Kelly, who the Village Voice reminded everyone had been accused of raping dozens of underaged adolescents (including one whose rape – in which R.Kelly urinated into her mouth and told her to call him Daddy – was captured on video).
Meanwhile, one of the videos on Beyonce’s surprise visual album was directed by Terry Richardson, a fashion photographer
