It’s only been a few months since film producer Harvey Weinstein’s reputation crumbled to the ground following allegations of sexual assault. The story of what Weinstein had done launched a huge conversation about sexual assault in Hollywood. Since then, countless people in Hollywood have come forward with allegations against many other powerful men.

It seemed that every month, someone new was in the spotlight for their disgusting behavior. One day, a name came out that I was surprised to see. Mark Schwahn.

If you don’t know who Mark Schwahn is, he is the creator of the television show One Tree Hill. To say that OTH is my favorite show is an understatement. It’s not just a TV show to me. It’s so much more. It’s a show that helped me grow up. It helped to inspire my creative writing. I feel so connected to the characters, almost as if they’re my family.

The first person to come forward about him actually didn’t mention his name, merely the things he had done. She was a writer for the series towards the end of the show. She spoke her piece on Twitter. After doing so, actresses that played prominent characters on the series showed support for this writer. Within days, seventeen women from the show came forward against their accuser.

Before any of this came about, I already loved the cast. After this, I loved them even more. They took a stand, finally, after all this time to face their accuser. I’m incredibly proud of them and it’s just one more reason why I look up to these incredible women. Furthermore, many of the men from the cast issued statements of support for their former fellow cast mates.

Be still my heart; I love these people.

Anyway, I became addicted to this story. I wanted to read everything I could about it. I wanted to see what people had to say about it.

I was surprised to see that some people felt that this story tainted their perception of the show. I can kind of understand. Watching it now and knowing what was going on behind the scenes can be pretty heartbreaking.

After all, the man behind the creation of your favorite show is a sexual predator. I can remember when the show first came on and thinking how much I should owe to Schwahn for creating such an amazing world. But do you know what else I remember? I remember not really liking him.

Back in the day of box set DVD’s (yes, I still have all of mine), I would watch the behind the scenes footage they had and some of it featured Schwahn. There was just something about him that I didn’t like. I didn’t know what it was, but his “greatness” didn’t match that of the show. I remember feeling kind of guilty for thinking that way considering he brought OTH to the world.

Now I get what I was feeling and I don’t feel guilty whatsoever.

There’s something important to remember about this show. Yes, Schwahn created the premise of it. But there are so many other people that made the show what it was, most notably the writers and the actors.

These actors and actresses put their hearts and souls into these characters. They made the characters who they were. They are the reason we love them so much. And when you think about it, they did an amazing job of portraying these characters despite putting up with sexual harassment at work.

So, it makes me kind of sad to see that the actions of Schwahn have tainted people’s perception of OTH. It’s still an amazing TV show. Schwahn doesn’t change that. For me, this show will remain to hold a special place in my heart, no matter what.

You can’t let one person change your perception of the work of so many others. And that’s a lesson you can take so many other places in life.