Cancelled - Kyndall Dunn

CANCELLED

an opinion by Kyndall Dunn

Justin Bieber

R. KellyWith the #MeToo movement in full swing, we’ve seen a few famous men face reprecussions for their bad behavour, namely Harvey Weinestein, R. Kelley and Matt Lauer. Where do we draw the line between supporting public figures and their art and acknowledging their problematic behavior? Within the music community, artists find themselves tangled up in controversy and their careers in hot water. Nobody’s favorite artist is safe. Because we live in the digital age where information is stored forever, we have instant access to artists in a manner that was not previously possible. While this phenomenon can be fascinating, for many artists, it has proven to be a nightmare. Access to artists’ lives allows listeners to make an important choice. In 2014, numerous videos surfaced of pop singer Justin Bieber as a 14-year-old sharing racist jokes with his friends and remixing his song “One Less Lonely Girl” with the “n-word.” Rapper Eminem has repeatedly used homophobic slurs (the “f-word”) in his verses. Despite his ironically unapologetic apology where he said he thought of the “f-word” as saying “punk,” he still has a successful career, as does Bieber. It’s puzzling. In 2018, R&B singer Sabrina Claudio’s career was just beginning to take off when her old Twitter account from 2014 packed with racial slurs including the “n-word” and offensive comments including, “F*** it, I’ll be a black girl for Halloween,” was exposed. As someone who supported Claudio’s career, her comments felt like a slap in the face. Countless other artists have had their words come back to haunt them. As humans we are always evolving and growing, and I believe that people have the capability to learn from mistakes and change accordingly. However, many artists give off an ingenuine vibe. The unfortunate trend of half-hearted iPhone Notes apologies is the equivalent of slapping a Band-aid on a bullet wound. It starts to feel like artists are apologizing not because they care, but because their income is threatened. However, not all artists are impacted the same. Some musicians have been able to maintain their popularity despite controversies. Rappers Kodak Black and Tekashi 6ix9ine have both faced sexual misconduct charges. In 2017, Black was indicted for a first-degree criminal sexual assault charge involving a teenager. 6ix9ine faced a sexual misconduct case in 2015 when he was seen in a video with a naked 13-year-old girl while he was 18. Their crimes are drowned out by their chart success. Black had two top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100, and 6ix9ine had a top 10 hit “FEFE.” Many people choose to play their music despite their history with sexual misconduct. Their increasing popularity reveals the sad truth that many people do not empathize enough with victims of sex crimes. One of the most notable abusers is R&B singer R. Kelly, who sang his way into the hearts of millions of fans with hit songs including “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Ignition (Remix).” At my family barbecues, it was almost guaranteed that by the end of the night we were “stepping in the name of love.” In response to Lifetime’s recent TV special “Surviving R. Kelly,” people were collectively disgusted by R. Kelly’s actions. However, one video of R. Kelly urinating on a 14-year-old girl has been available since 2002. In 1994, as a 28-year-old he married 15-year-old Aaliyah, and he fabricated documents to say she was 18. This information had been available for decades, but people ignored it because he was talented. It is scary how much power we can give an individual when we support their artistry despite their faults. Some fans argue that listeners have become overly sensitive and hypercritical of artists.

Tekashi 69

Kodak Black

Sabrina Claudio

Yet, a large percentage of the time, artists’ actions are a quick Google search away. If we turn a blind eye to their problematic actions and support their music, we place the artist on an undeserved pedestal. Some people believe they can separate the music from the artist. In a Blade survey of 230 students, approximately 59% of respondants shared this sentiment, but that belief is flawed. Separation is inherently ignorant and harmful. On Twitter, @QGotNoRings said: “It’s a privileged position to say you separate art from artist when the abused can’t separate trauma from their person.” When you decide to support an artist’s work without acknowledging who they are, you boost the artist’s popularity, making them invincible. This creates a culture where accountability takes a back seat to commercial success. As media consumers, we have a responsibility to be aware of who we stream because our support translates directly into

money and power. Although major streaming services like Spotify only pay artists around $0.006 to $0.0084 per stream, the numbers add up quickly when a song gains momentum. A song with 40 plus million streams earns between $280,000 and $390,000. Being entertaining should not erase an artists’ homophobia, misogyny, racism or abuse. There are steps listeners can take to address the problem. Singer Justine Skype spoke about how hard it was for her, as a victim of his domestic abuse, to watch rapper Sheck Wes rise to overnight fame with his song “Mo Bamba.” Major streaming platforms like Spotify have given listeners an option to mute all music from a specific artist. You can support victims like Skype by taking advantage of this feature which stifles artists’ success. Radio personality Ebro Darden faced backlash for addressing Black’s sexual assault allegations in an interview for Hot 97’s “Ebro in the Morning” show, which caused Black to leave the interview. Some listeners wanted Darben to stick to discussing Black’s music. But, it is delusional and irresponsible to ignore the elephant in the room. Darben’s actions were exactly what we should expect of radio hosts and journalists. Speaking about sexual assault charges should not be worse than having sexual assault charges. Enough is enough. There are implications to separating artists from their music. We silence R. Kelly’s underage victims each time

we celebrate his music. We invalidate domestic violence survivors when we decide a catchy beat is more important than their truth. We ignore people of color when we support artists who slander and use racist language. If we stop rushing to defend and support artists that are harmful, we can begin holding them accountable. Willful complacency can no longer be acceptable because it spawns artists who capitalize off of listeners’ ignorance.

Speaking about sexual assault charges should not be worse than having sexual assault charges.”