this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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It can sometimes be hard to separate the artist from their art. Are there any artists who were bad people but whose work you still enjoy?

Feel free to answer if you're in the opposite scenario: an artist who you love personally but don't enjoy their artwork.

Feel free to respond more than just music artists!

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Tom Cruise. I don't know what weird pathways cross in a brain to get that deep into Scientology without realizing what bullshit it is, but he is an amazing actor. He understands the craft, he is not shy about poking fun of himself, and by all accounts he is a consummate professional and treats the film crew well and has given gifts/thrown parties for them, etc.

But Scientology, yeesh....

[–] RBWells 15 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I want to hate him so badly. But he is so good. I remember when he was cast as the vampire and I was pissed, having read the books it made no sense that Mr. Top Gun Fast Times at Ridgemont High as an undead vampire.

Saw the movie and had to eat my words, he had become a gaunt undead vampire. What the actual fuck. He was fantastic. Ever since that, I kind of trust he will be good in anything.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 11 months ago (5 children)

HP Lovecraft - great writer, horrible racist

Similarly, Orson Scott Card - Ender's game and its sequel are great, but he's a raging homophobe.

[–] Cruxifux 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

HPL actually repented his stark conservatism and racism in his later years but yeah.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

I didn't realize this.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm convinced that Orson Scott Card suffered a traumatic head injury at some point. I don't know how you could go from writing something as beautiful and intimate as Ender's Game to shit like Hidden Empire, which is creepy right wing Christian disaster porn (from what I can remember of that trainwreck).

[–] qantravon 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, I don't know how the person who wrote "Speaker for the Dead" could be such a bigot. It doesn't make sense to me.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago

JK Rowling 😔

[–] dingus 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Kanye had some real bangers early in his career. I still listen to them and have them in my playlist.

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[–] reversebananimals 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Billy Corgan.

The music of Smashing Pumpkins got me through some very dark times as a teenager, but finding out he hates me because I'm gay snapped that personal connection. I'm usually able to separate the art from the artist and still enjoy good stuff made by bad people, but I'm not able to enjoy them anymore. The connection was too personal and the betrayal was too great.

[–] distantsounds 11 points 11 months ago

Smashing Pumpkins in the 90s were so good, but yeah fuck Billy Corgan.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I really enjoyed Ender's Game, but even while reading you can tell there's some weird racist shit going on in Orson Card's head.

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[–] Okokimup 25 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

Joss Whedon

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

I would say Kevin Spacey. The man can act: Usual suspects, Seven, first season of House Of Cards. Shame how he turned out.

[–] notannpc 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Johnny Craig, the former lead singer for the band Dance Gavin Dance. Dude has repeatedly fucked up and ripped off fans, but damn did he have a great singing voice.

And for the opposite, T-Pain and Post Malone. Both of them just seem like the coolest, and most chill people but their studio music is just not for me.

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[–] kylie_kraft 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Marilyn Manson - he had a slow slide from alcoholism to lecher creep to serial abuser. he spent 2009-2011 doing the worst shit to women that you can imagine.

Brand New - turns out that Jesse was a groomer of underage girls.

Arcade Fire - Win Butler is a sex pest.

Smashing Pumpkins - not at all in the same category as the others, but goddamn does Billy Corgan suck. he was always known as a first-class egotist, but he just kept being an asshole long after his prime had become a distant memory. then the weird shit started: crackpot conspiracy theories on Myspace, palling around with Alex Jones on Infowars, dropping alt-right buzzwords in interviews. the latest album is an extended allegory on cancel culture. worse, it's mostly unlistenable.

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[–] jacktherippah 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I love Tom Cruise. The man is an amazing, committed actor. He doesn't need flashy CGI or visual effects and he does insane stunts for our entertainment. Too bad he's a fucking nutjob.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh, Ayn Rand!

Wait a second, no, I hate her work too.

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[–] Macaroni_ninja 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Roman Polanski - great director but its also a pedophile scumbag

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

Woody Allen, too.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

A lot?

Tom Cruise is the easy answer for obvious, cultist, related reasons. And as much as I love Donnie Yen in basically everything he has ever done, he is a hardcore CCP shill at best and there is a LOT of really creepy and questionable shit in his casting and "writing" that makes me wonder when he fucks up so bad that even China cares.

But, generally, the rule that a friend "coined" is: How bad are they compared to Mel Gibson? And while that is mostly a "funny" way to look at stuff, it is also useful to keep in mind regarding the different scale of assholes. And it also depends on what they are bad about.

Also, I still like pro wrestling. That shit is a minefield.

But to provide an answer that didn't seem to come up yet:

Nobuhiro Watsuki. Creator of Rurouni Kenshin and such a pedophile that even the Japanese government gave a shit (and... just spend five minutes on the fifth floor of any manga shop and you'll understand how massively fucked of a scale that is. Or walk down the streets of Akihabara at night).

But also? The Rurouni Kenshin anime is still one of the GOATs... for the Kyoto arc. Even if there is a lot of shit in the arcs surrounding it and the overall story of Kenshin that REALLY makes a lot of sense when you understand how evil the creator is... And the live action adaptations are a must watch for any fan of action movies because it is probably still the greatest blend of wire work, fight choreography, and "style" to ever exist (I hear the Yu Yu Hakusho live action taps into the same vein).

One of those things where I will be a lot happier when that piece of shit is dead and unable to benefit from sales.

[–] Tripp1976 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I saw Bassnectar perform 24 times. Then we found out he likes to fuck underage girls. That killed all respect I had for him immediately.

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[–] ryry1985 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] CyanideShotInjection 15 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

I am a huge fan of black metal so often I have to filter out the ones with white supremacists members. But one I can't help myself going back to is Burzum. What he brought to the atmospherical BM scene is huge and I hate that I love his early records so much...

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[–] theywilleatthestars 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] pendulum_ 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Graham Lineham was controversial for years before he was 'cancelled'. A prime example of a talented writer who needed a PR team to keep him away from the general public.

Father Ted, Black Books, IT Crowd. These are all gems that I always enjoy rewatching.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

This one is really a shame. Anything with his name on it used to be guaranteed laughs, but now I see the name and it feels tainted.

[–] hperrin 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Idk if its authors count as artists, but I’m a fan of the US Constitution. A lot of its authors were slave holders though, so nearly the worst a person can be.

[–] PP_BOY_ 28 points 11 months ago

This is probably a controversial one. As someone who studied modern political history, the U.S. Constitution is - taken completely subjective for its time, authors, situation, etc. - an amazing piece of human achievement. It's a shame that so many people view it was some static command from the past, rather than the living document that it's authors intended it to be.

[–] Cruxifux 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I’m really sad that Max Landis is a piece of shit because now we don’t get to see Dirk Gently season 3.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I assumed it was because of how poorly written Season 2 was...

I say this as someone who likes Season 2. Bart, Dirk, Amanda, and Farah are all terribly underutilized in S2

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)
[–] spittingimage 8 points 11 months ago (4 children)
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[–] psion1369 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

John Lennon was pure asshole. He abused his first wife, who he only married because his manager didn't want one of these new starts to father and illegitimate child. And that child, he tormented and ignored. Second wife, second child, both wanted and given everything.

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[–] sheilzy 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This thread has already mentioned a lot of artists I was already going to mention...and I'll add a semi-recent one for me, Scott Adams. I started reading Dilbert while I was still learning to read and my exposure to it helped me recover from my literacy anxiety (which I sometimes still have to an extent). I've mentioned a bit of my associations of it in previous posts but to recap, my mom worked at another "Baby Bell" company, Nynex, later Bell Atlantic then Verizon, (like Scott who worked at Pacific Bell and Dilbert and friends who worked at an unnamed company implied to be in the telecom sector) I liked the simplistic designs a lot, as well as the introduction of new vocabulary. I soon started making my own comic strips. Scott Adams' views on race, medicine, politics and several other subjects are perplexing. If I could logically follow them, I'd be offended. My dad's high school experience was diminished by segregation apologists during Boston bussing mandates of the 1970s when they would protest at school campuses. The fact that Adams was on board with such a stupid practice in that infamous vlog is upsetting. Then again, Adams is a contrarian so I can't be sure if he sincerely feels that way, especially since he tweeted something afterwards saying "I'm not actually bothered by black people. I am actually just annoyed by white people who advocate for black people" (paraphrase). Maybe it's a true clarification or maybe he's just trying to walk back his statements. He needs help. There's probably something traumatic in his life that made him snap. Off hand, I know his wife filed for divorce from him and his stepson died of an overdose, and he may still be mourning in a strange way. Still, if I see Dilbert merch at a secondhand shop or in the library, I'd gladly take them out. I will not subscribe to his new pay-walled comic, but if his distributors and publishers ever decide to re-sign their contracts with him and start printing new Dilbert books again, I may buy them. Anecdotally print publishers seem to do more vetting than web publishers, so I'd hope that if they ever reunite he'd be in the right headspace. Anyway, great comic, troubled person. Hope the guy gets some help.

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[–] Witchfire 11 points 11 months ago

Crystal Castles. Keith is an asshole.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (5 children)

My wife honestly loves the paintings of the war criminal george w bush.

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[–] andrewthe95th 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Pantera. Maybe it was Dimebag's death that caused it, but holy shit Phil is fucking awful.

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[–] ladytaters 9 points 11 months ago

Cee-lo Green. He's brilliant, and has an amazing voice, but dude is a rape apologist and doesn't believe that an unconscious partner is unable to consent. An article from the Guardian where he apologized, but it's still out there.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Robert Heinlein. His works were all over the place, and it would be a mistake to assume that he believed in something just because he wrote it in a fiction novel, so on that front I think he gets a fair amount of undeserved heat. He was pushing the limits of progressivism for his time, tossing out and seemingly defending everything on all sides from fascism to anarchy to direct democracy.

If we discount his fiction, though, since it can be hard to tell from that what he actually believed, then he still falls pretty short by modern standards. A homophobe, almost certainly racist, and although he was practically a feminist by the standards of his time I would have to admit that he's pretty misogynistic by our standards.

[–] Window_Error_Noises 7 points 11 months ago

I wish this was more talked about, when people mention classic sci-fi. I'm an avid SF reader, particularly older stuff, and it could almost be a drinking game of how few pages it'll take before you find an offensively outdated reference, no matter how great the book. But every time I've picked up a Heinlein, hoping to find more positive points in classic stuff, I'm left just...feeling ooky. An easy example being the lesser known Friday, with the "happy" part of the extremely unrealistic female protagonist's journey: marrying one of her gang-rapists. I haven't been able to make a dent in my stack of Heinlein's since that nonsense. Too many other great and interesting authors that weren't horrid shitbags.

[–] Telstarado 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Back in the day I used to love many of the fantasy novels by David Eddings (e.g. Belgariad, Mallorean) but after learning about the terrible child abuse he and his wife were prosecuted for, I can't look at them the same way.

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