In our current society, seemingly more and more public figures within the government are being exposed as being horrible people. This additionally extends to the entertainment field, specifically the musical industry. However, instead of deplatforming such people and demonstrating that we do not condone their actions, we instead still listen to their music.
To offer an excuse, many people often use the excuse of “separating the art from the artist,” but I do not think this is possible. When one listens to the music of a controversial artist, you are still indirectly supporting them. By listening to their music and or buying their merchandise, you are still offering them support financially and still providing them with a platform that communicates the concept that people still want to listen to their music, thus allowing such artists a platform. So even if one claims not to support the controversial actions of a musical artist, one is still indirectly supporting them by listening to their music and or purchasing their merchandise.
This is seen in many controversial figures in the music industry alone. Most recently, many accusations have come to light against the American singer, Katy Perry, of sexual assault. In addition to this, American singer-songwriter Chris Brown has many documented allegations, such as sexual assault, threats, and physical assault. However, even with these serious allegations, these two figures are still selling out stadiums for their performances. If people were really serious about separating the art from the artist, they would not do live performances, let alone sell our stadiums.
And these are just two examples of a larger, prevalent issue within the music industry. Many controversial performers still have a platform despite the serious, heinous, and occasionally proven allegations against them. We cannot truly separate the art from the artist. Not with how obsessed our current society is with celebrities and celebrity culture as a whole. With a celebrity that one likes, we often create a false image in our mind of who we want them to be, often kind, nice, and perfect. And when a celebrity breaks this image, it can be hard for us to move past this, and instead, often make excuses for them to uphold the image we have created for them in our minds, thus preventing us from separating the art from the artist.
