As music lovers, maybe the real lesson is learning when to separate the art from the artist — and when we personally cannot.

If an offense feels too terrible, too personal, too familiar, or too painful for you to hear the music the same way again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their own emotional line.

At the same time, some people are still able to acknowledge the wrongdoing while recognizing the impact the music had on their lives.

Both perspectives can exist.

At the end of the day, these are people with jobs — admittedly, jobs nothing like ours — but still people. Their mistakes happen under a microscope. And just like we choose not to support companies that disrespect people or move in harmful ways, we also have the right to stop financially supporting artists whose behavior we can no longer separate from their work.

That choice is personal.

But the conversation itself is worth having.

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