Is it okay to like the works of problematic creators or artists?

[animalrescuer]

I've been thinking lately, I've never paid a lot of attention to creators of cartoon series before, but somehow, Vivziepop (aka Vivienne Medrano) is different. Her art style is so unique and I love her biggest creations, Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel. However, looking into her, even after defending her after she got doxxed earlier this year because of all the rumors about her (I still believe that most of them aren't true), some of the things about her kinda rub me the wrong way, like being aggressive when people criticize her or her cartoons and the fact that she and numerous people harassed another artist for copying her art style. Looking into that, it is an art style similar to hers, but it's a completely different idea to any of hers and coincidentally, from the evidence I can gather, it was around the time she got doxxed that the artist she harassed left Twitter and social media all together because of that. On her part, that is not okay!

So the question is, is it okay to like the works of problematic people? For me, the things that can turn me off a creator or an artist completely and not supoort anything they've done are if they are racist, homophobic, if they had done extremely creepy things in the past, commiting serious crimes, etc. For example, John K., Butch Hartman, Eric Clapton and Bill Cosby. What do you think?

 

[LittleJerry92]

I mean….. I just separate the art from the artist. Characters or cartoons acted/created by people who have a controversial status are not the people created or acted by them.

 

[D'Snowth]

Of course, we have a whole thread discussing this very subject:

Separating the art from the artist: Is it always possible?

I got to thinking recently about Bill Cosby and his alleged sexual assault controversies, and it made me wonder: is it still right to enjoy his past work and laugh at his jokes given all this? And does some of the stuff in his infamous "Pound Cake Speech" from 2004 suddenly become irrelevant...

muppetcentral.com

 

[fuzzygobo]

I still enjoy Bill Cosby’s early standup routines, but I certainly don’t condone what he did.

It is possible to separate one’s artistic achievements from their personal life.

The same goes for professional athletes. They might shine in their chosen sport, but at home can be wife beaters, drive drunk, kill dogs, and hardly see fit to be role models for young people.

Bottom line is, people will still act badly whether or not they have a successful artistic career.