Talking about the music industry, it is a very common habit to ignore our favorite artists attitudes’ every time one of them commits a mistake (and I am not talking about just a simple one). People normally act like absolutely nothing happened and continue to consume their products and listen to their music. And with it, the question whether or not we should separate art from the artist has been debated more and more.

A perfect example why we definitely shouldn’t separate art from the artist is XXXTentacion. 

Even these days, after his death, we can still see posts about this rapper, with people deifying him and totally forgetting all the terrible things he has done in his past, as if being a “good” musician is enough to hide all the problems. 

Before XXXTentacion’s premature death, he had accumulated several charges against him that ranged from robbery, witness tampering, false imprisonment to aggravated battery. His ex-girlfriend Geneva Ayala detailed the series of alleged abuse she suffered in her relationship with him, claiming he regularly backhanded her, choked her and threatened to kill her. 

Even though, people continued to ignore it and still listen to his music, which is kind of understandable because, after XXX’s death, he maintained his innocence and all the criminal cases against him were closed.

But a few days after it, the situation changed. A 27-minute audio where XXXTentacion confessed to domestic abuse and other violent crimes, alleging that he would kill his ex-girlfriend if she “plays” with him and admitting other crimes, was found. Prosecutors and the artist’s legal team then considered the audio a confession.

Despite of all that, the curious part is fans defending him because he was a human being and we all make mistakes, which is somewhat contradictory, taking into account one of the things he said in the audio: “I started […] her up because she made one mistake. And from there, the whole cycle went down. Now she’s scared. That girl is scared for her life. Which I understand.” 

XXXTentacion is absolutely no saint, and the fact that people still make tributes in his honor is disgusting. The reason we should not separate art from the artist is because you can’t really unrelate these two things, because when we consume the artists’ products, we are supporting their work and also their lives, the way they interact with the world. 

If people don’t start paying attention to these attitudes, we will always live in a world where public personalities take advantage of their power in society and do whatever they want to, even if it may harm the welfare of others.