How does one separate the art from the artist when their art has irrevocably changed and influenced the course of one’s life?
When Sandhya Surendran first encountered the world of Michael Jackson, it was almost as if she had discovered Utopia—a feeling of liberation, his songs adding colour to her childhood. She could groove by emulating the singer’s signature moonwalk any time of the day.
Then, the child abuse allegations against Jackson began to trickle in. Surendran was too young to process it all but as she grew up, became a lawyer, and understood the staggering range of paedophilia, and its traumatic impact in the survivor’s life, the allegations were simply too damning to deny. “The reason why Jackson’s music had such a deep impact on me was that it transcended generations,” she says. “He’s probably the only pop star that can be recognised by a villager. The statement that he’s a phenomenal artist is now tainted forever. He’s not MJ Forever any more.”
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"The statement that he’s a phenomenal artist is now tainted forever. He’s not MJ Forever any more," says Sandhya Surendran
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If an artist has been influential in shaping our lives, we end up idealising not just their work but also every aspect of their life and personality
Much like Surendran, there are many of us who have been deeply affected by artists whose works have resonated with us—to the point where it shapes our worldview and even encourages us to follow the same passion as they did. When we realise that they are, in fact, flawed, not in the traditional sense that humans are flawed, but rather criminally flawed, the chasm between the art and the artist becomes too wide to ignore. What happens when the dream breaks?
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Late novelist and playwright Kiran Nagarkar who won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his 1997 novel Cuckold. Image: Getty
A personal loss
According to psychiatrist Dr Nahid Dave, such conundrums can take a heavy toll on one’s psyche, much beyond the initial disappointment. She argues that if an artist has been influential in shaping our lives, we end up idealising not just their work but also every aspect of their life and personality.
“We perceive the fall of such an artist as a personal loss,” says Dave. “We can compartmentalise other flawed aspects of their personality but criminal wrongs like #MeToo, bigotry and other such remarks or deeds are not easy to ignore. These cases are enmeshed with other aspects of one’s life and cannot be picked out in isolation.”
The theme of the flawed artist confronting their starry-eyed fans has been a recurring one in literature. In the 1984 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, In Custody by Anita Desai, the prospect of interviewing a renowned Urdu poet fills a young fan with great happiness—only for him to realise later that the poet hates his language, is hopeless about its survival and is caught in a toxic web of his family.
In the case of Viraj, a 37-year-old writer who prefers to be addressed by a pseudonym, he considered writing as a viable career option because of the late novelist and playwright Kiran Nagarkar who won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his 1997 novel Cuckold.
“The way he brought his characters alive left a lasting impression on me, his stories brought alive the landscape of Maharashtra, particularly his hometown Pune,” says Viraj. “When the allegations of him having abused three women came in, my first reaction was denial as I refused to believe he could do it.”
Viraj’s reaction to Nagarkar’s accusations followed a typical cycle that Dr Syeda Ruksheda describes as the various stages of grief: Denial, anger, bargaining with the truth of the situation, sadness and eventual acceptance. “For people who have been directly impacted by these artists, it’s far more distressing. They’ll say you’re lying, it’s just a conspiracy. When people do realise the truth and can no longer deny it, they go through a sense of loneliness, questioning their own life, and experiencing an existential crisis.”
“WE CAN COMPARTMENTALISE OTHER FLAWED ASPECTS OF THE ARTIST’S PERSONALITY BUT CRIMINAL WRONGS LIKE #METOO, BIGOTRY AND OTHER SUCH REMARKS OR DEEDS ARE NOT EASY TO IGNORE”
Dr Nahid Dave
Nagarkar passed away in 2019, within a year of the allegations. Viraj says that there is a theory that some have on how those allegations—and probably their false nature—might have something to do with his death. However, when he died, tributes poured in for him from every quarter of the literary and artistic world, with writers and other creatives professing their love for him, highlighting his immense contribution towards enriching Indian literature.
“If the allegations had proven to be true, I’d probably still read his books but in private,” he admits. “I cannot discount how he made me feel when I read those stories. At the end of the day, we’re all flawed, and it’s about the varying degrees of flaws that need to be factored in.”
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Ye’s pro-white supremacy and antisemitic remarks, apart from shaming his former wife Kim Kardashian, led to brands such as Adidas severing their ties with him
Isolating the flaws
For artists whose descent to the depths of all things problematic and downright criminal unfolds before us every day, as opposed to a few allegations that play out in the public domain and retire to the bureaucratic mesh of our courts, the effect becomes multifold. When Kanye West, now officially known as Ye, started openly courting and making antisemitic remarks, he was no longer the enfant terrible of the music industry.
Ye’s pro-white supremacy and antisemitic remarks, apart from shaming his former wife Kim Kardashian, led to brands such as Adidas severing their ties with him. The effects on his fans who had so far stood by him were more pronounced. After Ye praised Hitler, NAAMA—a London-based tattoo-removal studio—announced that it would be offering free removal of Ye’s tattoos in an Instagram post on November 15 last year.
“I worshipped him because he showed me the power of pursuing one’s dreams no matter what it takes,” says Jeremiah Rosenberg, a 22-year-old restaurant manager based in Leeds. “You remember that song Kanye by The Chainsmokers? It summarises his journey so well—a man who came from nothing but built a million-dollar empire for himself. We supported him through his mental health struggles but how can I love a man who vocally loves the man who butchered my ancestors?”
Does the art cease to matter? Do we pick up the pieces of how an artist made us feel after they turn out to be monsters? For Anju Sharma, a 26-year-old entrepreneur, the songs of composer Anu Malik have been forever tainted because she would associate his hit tunes with a weekend well spent with her estranged father. “Anu Malik might be reduced to a joke of sorts now but his music was fun; it made me dance and what more does one expect from an artist? The sexual harassment allegations against him might have been closed by the Women’s Commission but I’ll be forever apprehensive of associating cherished memories with music now.”
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“We can compartmentalise other flawed aspects of their personality but criminal wrongs like #MeToo, bigotry and other such remarks or deeds are not easy to ignore," says psychiatrist Dr Nahid Dave
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Dave says that after the myth of our “perfect artist” breaks down, it is indeed a journey in aligning our true selves, starting with evaluating the risks that such an event has on us
Dave says that after the myth of our “perfect artist” breaks down, it is indeed a journey in aligning our true selves, starting with evaluating the risks that such an event has on us. “We ask people to break things down into parts of that artist they are okay with and the parts they can let go. Everyone can do a little bit to ensure people around them aren’t vulnerable. The major reason we are so deeply affected is that it triggers feelings of fear, guilt or even feeling partially responsible.”
She adds that there are certain defence mechanisms when there’s grief—both immature and mature ones. The immature ones, Dave says, include acting out, calling them out on social media and harshly judging themselves. “But the mature way is doing selfless acts, knowing that your self-worth is beyond a celebrity and trusting yourself. More than anything, you first need to forgive yourself for idealising them. The rest can follow.”
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