Can you really seperate the art from the artist?

With all the hate towards J.K Rowling (deserved) and lets say Kanye West for example, you can enjoy the art but can you really separate what they c…

in my opinion, no. an artist’s worldview informs their art, so things like racism/misogyny/ableism etc etc seep into the works they create. consuming media like that uncritically can be harmful by reinforcing biases, conscious or unconscious.

there’s also the more direct harm that can be done by financially supporting certain artists. jk rowling, for example, is funnelling any wealth she gets from the harry potter franchise into funding anti-trans organisations.

in my experience, people who want to separate art from the artist just want to continue uncritically consuming everything, without feeling guilt over the harm they could be doing by “voting with their dollar”.

This is my stance as well. I don’t want to knowingly consume something that was made by someone who held horrible views for their benefit OR my detriment. With almost unlimited media to consume out there, it seems so trivial to find someone with less problematic views who fills a similar niche. Rowling, Cosby, Chris Brown, etc all have contemporaries who have far less problematic views. And if one of those contemporaries are determined to have some similarly horrible views? We examine what biases may have snuck by us, throw them away, and move on. Humanity has no shortage of creative geniuses if you dig even an inch below the surface.