Separating the Artist’s Conduct and the Art
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/opinion/harvey-weinstein-artist-conduct.html Version 0 of 1. To the Editor: While most people agree that Harvey Weinstein behaved disgracefully, there is an overarching question that his conduct raises. Given the bad behavior of certain creative people, how should one react to the work produced by disgraced individuals? Recently Jerry Seinfeld was on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and this question arose. Mr. Seinfeld said he had changed his mind, from ignoring the behavior and enjoying the person’s work (in this case it was Bill Cosby) to being very troubled by it. I would be interested in how others feel about separating the work from the reprehensible conduct of the artist. Should we vow never to see another Woody Allen movie again, or a rerun of “The Cosby Show,” or the work of any of the many, all too many, offending creative people? SHEILA LEVIN, NEW YORK We invite readers to offer their responses (letters@nytimes.com), and we’ll publish a sampling. |