It’s been a rough couple of months for fans of Rick and Morty. On Jan. 12, 2023, NBC broke the news that the show’s creator Justin Roiland had been charged with domestic battery and false imprisonment in 2020. Roiland was subsequently tarred and feathered across the internet as allegations of sexual misconduct, predatory messages, and generally gross behavior began to spring up everywhere. The world then watched as Adult Swim, Hulu, and Disney all severed their ties with Roiland. The Rick and Morty team announced that the show would continue with new voice actors, and that was that.
A famous creator being outed as problematic isn’t particularly shocking in 2023. Even so, whenever something like this happens, fans must find a way to reconcile their fandom with cold hard reality. As we traverse further into the Internet Age, it feels less and less possible to ignore the widely publicized misdeeds of our favorite artists. So, what should we do?
For many people, the answer is simple: separate the art from the artist. This means tuning out the sins of a creator and instead focusing entirely on their work. For example, Kanye West’s recent behavior has pretty much trashed any positive reputation he once had. It’s safe to assume his remaining fans face a daunting moral dilemma. On the one hand, it’s obviously wrong to support an artist who is using his platform to promote antisemitism and hatred. On the other hand, a song like “All Falls Down” from 2004 explicitly condemns systemic racism.
Is it wrong to listen to what is clearly an anti-racist anthem just because the songwriter has betrayed the original message? By separating the art from the artist you leave yourself with two choices: either you continue to patronize problematic artists, or you choose to endlessly reduce the amount of art in your life. Like it or not, the art world is packed to the brim with secret scumbags. It’s entirely possible your favorite artist is one of them.
If separating the art from the artist is an unsustainable solution, what’s next? It would seem that the only recourse would be to boycott problematic art, and perhaps demand that others do the same. This month, the highly anticipated video game Hogwarts Legacy was released. Since the game is part of the Wizarding World franchise that all began with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series, many gamers have decided to boycott due to Rowling’s apparent transphobic beliefs. I certainly understand the impulse for revenge, but the reality is that J.K. Rowling is worth billions. Calling for a boycott won’t make her any poorer, and it would be an uphill battle to make even a dent in her net worth. In fact, boycotting would likely have a much greater impact on the hundreds of developers and animators who have actually made an effort to represent the transgender community within the game.
Not to mention, by this logic shouldn’t we boycott everything? It seems a bit hypocritical to place so much focus on one transphobic author when we unknowingly consume the unethical fruits of someone’s labor every single day. It’s worth asking whether or not ethical consumption of media under capitalism is even possible.
I don’t mean to sound defeatist, or imply that boycotting problematic media isn’t a noble effort. But it seems to me that there is no simple answer to this problem, only individual choices. And one of the best choices you can make is to constantly educate yourself. Expose yourself to as much media and as many different perspectives as you can — even things you don’t like. Ask yourself why you like certain things, but not other things.
Make peace with the fact that people’s lives are defined by good and bad choices, and that people who have made overwhelmingly bad choices are also capable of making art that you enjoy. Fail to recognize this, and you risk failing to recognize your own flaws.
If you believe that boycotting Hogwarts Legacy is morally right, then more power to you. And if you’re a diehard fan of Harry Potter, Rick and Morty, or anything else, don’t beat yourself up for wanting to enjoy these things. Just make yourself aware of the historical context in which they were created, as well as the beliefs and behaviors of the author. From there, make your own choices accordingly. But by choosing to “separate the art from the artist” we are only hiding from the fact that human existence in and of itself, is often problematic.
Matthew Iddon was born at an exceptionally young age. He aspires to one day become old. He currently resides.