It seems like it happens every day lately. Your favorite writer, comedian, singer, actor, sports star, politician or whatever suddenly hits the news because it turns out he’s a racist, rapist, sexist, homophobe, murderer or otherwise deplorable person. Particularly in the #MeToo era, we’re seeing this more and more with the likes of Bill Cosby, Louis CK, Kevin Spacey, John Lassiter and Harvey Weinstein… but it predates that. We’ve had issues like this with everyone from OJ Simpson to Paula Dean to Orson Scott Card to Michael Jackson in the past. And just this last week, we’ve had the return of allegations against R&B singer R. Kelly. It’s not surprising that we on this show think they’re all horrible human beings. But what do we do with the art that we’ve grown to love that these people produced BEFORE their fall. Are we supposed to ignore it? Are we supposed to burn our albums, movies and books? Or are we supposed to somehow pretend that we can enjoy the art without thinking of the context of those who created it. This week the entire panel of VoxPop hosts — Mav, Hannah, Katya, and Wayne — assemble to talk it through. What are the cultural effects both from an academic and a personal perspective or art created by people who have lost our respect. After you listen, let us know your thoughts as well.
Citations and Links:
- This episode’s Call for Comments
- Hear Mav on this week’s episode of the Protagonist Podcast
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
- Follow Hannah on Twitter: @hannahleerogers
- Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick
- Follow Katya on Instagram: @justthatnerdkid
- Follow Mav’s Personal Blog: http://chrismaverick.com
- Follow Wayne’s Personal Blog: http://wayne-wise.com
- Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast
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