Stop Listening? Students discuss whether or not it’s okay to listen to an artist who has done wrong

By Trinity DeLaCruz

In October of 2022 allegations surfaced against indie artist Rex Orange County, accusing him of sexual assault. Senior Briana Yulo was worried, not just because she was a fan but because she even named her dog after him.

“It’s kinda awkward because I named my new puppy at the time after him.” Yulo said. Luckily for her she just named her dog Rex. Cancel culture is prevalent in today’s society. No one is safe from their favorite artist coming out with crazy allegations against them or crazy news about why we as a society should or should not support them based on what they have said or done.

In October 2022 the indie artist known as Rex Orange County was charged with six counts of sexual assault. When the news dropped, fans made comments about how they felt with videos on tik tok and protested by not listening to his music.Yulo being one of those fans.

“ I never stopped being a fan of his music during the whole scandal. I actually found myself listening to it more.” Yulo explained.

Sophomore Istvan Paulovits shares a similar view to Yulo, he has been a fan of artist Kanye West for a few years and has also never let the controversy stop him from listening to the artist’s music.

“He makes good music, so why would I stop listening to him because of what he has said?” Paulovits said.

Kanye has been caught in the media saying comments that have been called out as antisemtic with his comments, such as “ I love Hitler”. Listeners must come to a conclusion whether or not to continue listening to an artist’s music. To some maybe but to others it’s a total deal breaker, with some gray area.

“You can definitely disagree with ideologies that he has but his music is good either way.” Paulovits said

Sophomore Jordyn Jones’ opinion is different from Paulovitis

“I think it depends on what the artist did and how serious it is,” Jones said.

Jones has been a fan of Megan Thee Stallion since 2018 and when the scandal with Tory Lanez came out she didn’t miss a beat. In 2020, artist Tory Lanez shot artist Megan Thee Stallion in the foot after a party. This caused both of the fan bases to split on who they supported.

“I feel like it’s mainly men who still support Tory Lanez after what he did or people blaming Megan, and it’s not okay they try to defend him ‘’ Jones said. If someone shoots another person or is held accountable for a serious crime, people are less likely to support them and their music, but only if there is good evidence released to believe so.

“I wanted to wait to see more of the allegations unfold before not supporting him because I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.” Yulo said. “I like his music so I’m going to keep listening.”

I guess the saying “innocent until proven guilty” is true for some when it comes to their favorite artist and the things they have done in the public eye. Some may think you can’t separate the art from the artist because ultimately they affect each other and what the message is in their music. While others may argue that you can just listen to the music but not like the person because it shouldn’t matter if they have different views than you.

“I think people should split the two because why should it matter what they think or what they have done if they make music you like, if it’s good that’s all that matters.” Paulovits said.

He still openly listens to Kanye and has had discussions with people explaining his side as to why he still listens to the music.

“If you don’t want to bring money to their pocket don’t listen to their music, cause you are still supporting someone who is canceled.” Jones said.

Jones strongly believes that people should be mindful of who they are still listening to because if you listen to them, you are still somewhat supporting someone. It all depends on who they are and what they have done.

In the end, it looks like it comes down to a state of moral value that students have with their favorite artist and what they are willing to budge on and what they aren’t. Everyone’s ideas of if we can split the two will be different for each person based on their moral compass. There is no right or wrong idea or belief in this situation of splitting the two.