As a person who has experienced some abuse in my lifetime, I get it when it comes to wanting to see some justice or not being reminded of the abuser.


So, with prominent artists going down for past transgressions AND our shifting perspective on societal level, I also get the time we're in where the music of R Kelly is being removed from platforms, the old Cosby shows are being pulled from syndication and Michael Jackson's art and impact is being shelved.

These people are bad and they have done bad things.

But, in response to all of this, I've been thinking to myself, what is the long term plan?

What I mean is....a year from now will we all collectively still not be listening to MJ and Kelly and not watching Cosby reruns?

3 years from will we all collectively still not be listening to MJ and Kelly and not watching Cosby reruns?

5 years from now will we all collectively still not be listening to MJ and Kelly and not watching Cosby reruns?

10 years from now will we all collectively still not be listening to MJ and Kelly and not watching Cosby reruns?


Is the art canceled forever as well? Is that the plan? Or, since this is new territory, we're kind of making it up as we go along?

Is this all really about a massive shift where as a society are learning to separate art from artist?

What about the impact and life changing aspect their art has had for some people? I'm not comparing the two things (positive actions vs. negative actions) but I am legitimately wondering if their bad actions completely erase the good they have done for some people.


The genesis for this post was seeing the headline where the Simpsons will be pulling the episode featuring MJ's voice. Which, I totally get, its not great optics and if they were to take a position of inaction they would be viewed as guilty by association.


And, I guess, with MJ I've been having a hard time with other people having a hard time in the many thinking pieces about coming to terms with how they feel about Michael Jackson after the most recent revelations. Which to me is...strange because its not as if this is all out of the blue. We've had TWENTY SIX YEARS to figure this out (first allegation was in 1993).


Anyway....wtf we gonna do?























alright, I was fighting myself about this last point because its dripping in whataboutism - but why does it seem like we're so SO slow to pick who will be canceled? Like, Woody Allen, Ted Nugent, Steven Tyler, Russel Simmons, Charlie Walk, LA Reid, etc. all have done dirt and their stories have broken but they still keep standing and we still keep supporting - I don't know if its cognitive dissonance or if we are selectively separating art from artist.

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me