How have you dealt with the moral dilemma when it was discovered your favourite artist was a bad person/molester/deviant/etc.?

Does it make me a bad person if I continue to enjoy the work of an artist who it's been discovered did some very bad things in their past?

Is it a sliding scale thing? Like, being an antisemite, somewhat okay to still listen, but a sexual deviant/sexually abusive, no?

Is it enough that I condemn their actions? Like that I genuinely really hate them for the deplorable things they did? Or if I truly hated them, I'd be turned off their music?

But what if I've decades of history with their music, what if it served as the backdrop to several milestone life moments... It's not so easy...

I am very conflicted about my fandom for a handful of artists because of things they've done. Ultimately, I do still continue to listen to their music, whether for some kind of nostalgia fix or just the dopamine hit- I guess those are one and the same.

I'm genuinely curious about this, it really is a moral dilemma, and I'm wondering how those of you who've encountered it have proceeded.

Posted Feb 18, 2026, 2:34 AM UTC

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