I've thought about this a lot, and I still don't know where I stand on it in a general sense. So many artists have SOMETHING horrible floating around in their past. Not everyone is the Lost Prophets guy or Bill Cosby or whatever... If you really knew the truth, not just what is public knowledge, you'd probably find yourself having to boycott a lot of stuff that you love or at least appreciate. There's also the aspect to consider that in many cases, like with a movie, it's not just one person responsible for the creation, not even close.

I have a really hard time with something like Miles Davis. I fell in love with his music, and was obsessed for a while there. Then you read up on him and find out that he was a wife-beater. I can't help but still appreciate his music, but every time I listen to it now, I have that fact floating in the back of my mind.

Or with Polanski, who seems to be the central figure in this debate. Rosemary's Baby is one of my favorite movies, I can't help it, but if I watch it, the scene where she has a fever dream where she's raped by Satan, every time I think about what the director of the film really did.

Maybe the art should be at least a little bit tarnished, if not completely ruined, by the truth of what the creators did. Maybe on some level, it's as simple as "if it bothers you, it bothers you." The art/creation exists separate from the creator, but how we feel or respond to any art is a subjective experience informed by a lot of factors. I never really freaked out about Michael Jackson's music, but when I hear it now (after watching the HBO documentary) it actually bothers me, but some of it bothers me more than other stuff. I guess PYT for obvious reasons.. but maybe it's just that I kinda like Smooth Criminal, and some nostalgic fondness for it, and I can't help it.