Can you respect the work when the creator is a jerk?

Sexual Harassment in the Arts

When the Harvey Weinstein accusations thrust the #Metoo movement onto our screens and newspapers, as the movement gained steam and women felt empowered to share their stories, I kept avoiding a question that was niggling at me. Can I respect the work when I can’t respect its creator? For example, when the charges against Bill Cosby snowballed, I loathed him and his probable abuse of power, but I couldn’t deny that I had enjoyed the Cosby show. I had. But I’ll NEVER watch it again.

Kevin Spacey? An amazing actor. And I NEVER want to watch him perform again.

When Rumors Bear Truth

I want to believe and see the best in people. That is part of my nature and wiring. So when my sons were in high school and I heard some ugly rumors about the theater director at their school, I didn’t believe the rumors. (Yes, there had been rumors about Weinstein, Spacey and others swirling for years. Sometimes rumors are merely manifestations of truth, not always of course, but sometimes. That didn’t occur to me at the time of hearing the rumors.) When that director left rather abruptly at the end of one school year to go to another district, the public reasons seemed to make sense. I didn’t give it much thought. But that same director was put on “administrative leave” beginning around Thanksgiving last year (around the time that #metoo was still rolling strong and spreading in many fields). Administrative leave in schools generally means that the employee is paid while an investigation into possible misconduct occurs. I don’t know if that’s the meaning in the director’s district, but it is a reasonable guess. Said director recently resigned. So, no, I don’t know what’s happening there but I know something smells bad.

Really bad.

It seems likely that those ugly rumors I’d dismissed were true. That incident provoked my questioning more than anything — because I knew the man and had respected him and worked fairly closely with him . This wasn’t about a celebrity whose world and mine were unlikely to ever collide. The question rose again: could I respect the work when the creator was a jerk? Yes, he was a terrific director. But, if this situation plays out to reveal he was a predator/harasser, will I ever want to see anything else he directs or performs in? Nope.

Predators & Harassers — Surely not in the literary world?

Somehow, in my thinking, I had naively and hopefully (and foolishly), wanted to believe the literary world might be more immune from the mean men found in the Hollywood #metoo movement.

Wishful thinking of the most ridiculous kind. Guilty as charged.

In my Facebook feed, I saw posts from female authors, many of them in academics, talking about harassment, still afraid to specifically call anyone out. Afraid of job implications. And so, yes, I knew the literary world was not immune to predators, harassers and general egotistic, power-hungry penis-bearers (for the most part). But, my favorite authors? No way.

I know, I know. Wishful thinking of the most ridiculous kind, part deux.

I loved Sherman Alexie’s memoir, YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME, about his complicated relationship with his mother. And, I applauded his stepping back from the book tour when he did last fall, supposedly for his depression. In fact, I documented my gratitude to him at Invisible Illness with When Grief is Complicated — An Open Thank You Letter to Sherman Alexie.

But, his name has come up in connection with the Anne Ursu story, Sexual Harassment in the Children’s Book Industry. More information following that story can be found at School Library Journal, Children’s Publishing Reckons with Sexual Harassment in Its Ranks, and a post documenting comments from the School Library Journal article called A Comprehensive List of the Recent Kidlit Sexual Harassment Allegations. It’s in that final post that Alexie’s name, and others, come out.

To date, I have not seen any response from Alexie to these accusations. And, no, I’m not aware of any formal charges. But know what? No, what? I believe the accusers. And I’m so sad.

I even wonder a lot about the reasons behind his withdrawal from the book tour. Was it related to some women beginning to call him out? Or fears of that happening? His withdrawal predated the beginning of the avalanche of #Metoo last October, but, still, one has to wonder.

And I don’t know if I’ll be able to read Alexie’s work again. But, I don’t feel like I should.

Roxane Gay said it best in an essay in Marie Clare earlier this month, Can I Enjoy the Art but Denounce the Artist? :

“We can no longer worship at the altar of creative genius while ignoring the price all too often paid for that genius.”

While I said to myself that I was questioning whether I could respect the creation while disrespecting the creator, I have to be honest and see that I had already come to the conclusion that I could not separate the two. I thought maybe I should be able to separate the two, that was truly more of what I was questioning. But Gay’s essay helped me clarify that no, in fact, I don’t have to separate them. I should remain opposed to supporting artists who have treated others with such blatant disregard and disrespect. Or, in her words,

“There are all kinds of creative people who are brilliant and original and enigmatic and capable of treating others with respect. There is no scarcity of creative genius, and that is the artistic work we can and should turn to instead.”

Can you respect the work when the creator is a jerk? was originally published in Pam Writes on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.