As someone who always tries to be on the right side of history, I have a very difficult time with these issues. It feels as if I am cherry picking what artists are and are not okay to separate from their work based on the “severity” of their wrongdoings.
For example, it is very easy for me to completely cancel R. Kelly. What he did pretty much aligns with sex trafficking, and I am not the one to pardon men who hit on little girls. I can deal with not listening to “Ignition (Remix)” for the rest of my time on Earth.
However, it is a little harder for me to do these things with writers I admire. Like Kanye West, someone whose music I have loved for the longest time because, lyrically, they were intriguing to me. I would feel a little better if he only somewhat agreed with Donald Trump, but his songs were removed from my playlists when he said that slavery was a “choice”.
This battle I have with myself leads me to wonder if there is a line artists must cross with me. At what point do I cut them out of my life completely? Should I even let them get to that line at all? Can I just agree with them on one thing, yet let them continue to disappoint me and, potentially, harm others by doing that one thing that makes me uneasy about them? I am still unsure. And, at this point, I feel as if I will never have the answer for myself, let alone society as a whole.