Separating the “art” from the “artist” is just another way in which we fail to give the “artist” consequences for whom they are and the bad things they have done. And it is just another way that society fosters the normalisation of these bad things by saying we will continue to afford these “artists” freedom to be and work and be praised regardless of what they do. This gives “artists” licence to be destructive people as long as they are producing something we consider valuable and wish to not do without as payment for their crimes. What a precedent to set. That you could make yourself so invaluable you could do what you want to others as long as there are more people that you are entertaining than there are people that you are hurting. We have decided there is a price for our enjoyment that we are comfortable with, and that is the pain of these artists’ victims. I don’t care what he did to you as long as I get something out of him. Please don’t send him to jail for how he robbed you of something vital and human lest I do not get to enjoy more of his movies, his books, his speeches, his company. He’s a genius, he’s great, he’s funny, he’s creative, he’s enjoyable - TO ME ... He’s scary, he’s capable of heinousness, he closes doors to commit atrocities and then opens them to receive accolades and praise for what he projects outwardly. Inwardly, he is evil. He is the worst person - to you. But that doesn’t matter to ME because it doesn’t happen TO me. In what other arena can people escape being held accountable for a crime because it is inconvenient for their audience to lose them? Can a murderer exchange brilliance for freedom? Can a larcenist charm his way out of handcuffs? Would you look at a stabbing victim bleeding out and say you can’t do anything about their attacker because they contribute other things to society and you don’t want to rock the boat? You don’t want to ‘ruin’ the attacker’s life by making them answer for the things they have chosen to do? Is that how law and order works? Until we decide that the “art,” in whatever form it comes, is not worth the cost of the “artist’s” victims' lives and sanity and safety, we cannot call ourselves a civilised society. We sit clapping like deranged seals giving agency to offenders because they are not 100% a villain like a Disney character. No human is, so that cannot be the standard for which we demand liability, recompense, or repercussions. And we cannot expect these victims to be grateful, be cordial, or to carry on coolly accepting of us when we tell them our comfort and amusement trumps their protection and welfare. The art is the artist. And I don’t want any “art” that is painted in the blood and tears of people who deserved protection, nor do I care to call that “artist” a friend of mine.