In light of the recent Bill Cosby rape allegations, many questions have been raised about whether individuals will continue to support him. Cosby has no doubt left an impact on American culture; as a prominent voice in mainstream media and the black community, many were shocked that such a beloved figure could be so "bad" beneath the projected image he had worked so hard to maintain. As a child, I frequently watched Cosby's children show "Little Bill" and had fond memories of it. So I found myself asking the question, how much does my experience matter? Are my fond memories of watching "Little Bill" more important than the pain and suffering caused by Cosby?
In short: no.
No matter how much I enjoyed Cosby's work as a child, it pales in comparison to the damage he inflicted on women. When we as a society hear about men doing horrible things, we must make a conscious effort to remember the damage they have caused. Because in the end, it does not matter that "Little Bill" provided some enjoyment for my child self. What matters is that Cosby hurt other women and the pain they were forced to endure is more important than the 30-minute episodes I laughed at and enjoyed.
However, the buck doesn't stop with Cosby. On Feb. 1, 2014 Dylan Farrow wrote an open letter in which she spoke openly about Woody Allen, her father, sexually abusing her at seven years old. That same year, Allen was nominated for an Oscar for his film, "Blue Jasmine." Despite the fact that the allegations of Allen assaulting his daughter stem back to 1993, Allen was allowed to continue making films, his most recent film being "Irrational Man" (a film about a college professor engaging in a relationship with one of his students), and winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2011 for "Midnight In Paris."
There are other men Hollywood continues to celebrate that have hurt women and faced no repercussions. Roman Polanski drugged and raped a 13 year old girl at Jack Nicholson's home in 1977. He won an Oscar for Best Director for "The Pianist" in 2003, along with the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and two César Awards (one for Best Director and the other for Best Film). Michael Fassbender threw his girlfriend "over a chair breaking [her] nose" and was nominated for an Oscar in 2013. David O'Russell, a favorite at the Academy Awards these past few years, molested his transgender niece and then claimed it was because she was "acting provocative towards him". Sean Penn, winner of the 2003 Best Actor Oscar for "Mystic River" and a second in 2008 for his role in "Milk," beat Madonna (to whom he was married to at the time) for several hours while she was tied to a chair. Sean Bean was arrested after assaulting his wife in 2008. Bill Murray, an actor very much loved by the American public, physically abused his wife on "several occasions". Rapper Eminem has made a career off of violently misogynistic lyrics (mainly about ex-wife Kim Mathers, the subject of his song bearing her name. After performing the song while acting out all his violent fantasies with a blow up doll, while Kim was watching, she attempted suicide) and making rape threats to Iggy Azalea. Eminem has won a total of 15 Grammy's and an Oscar for Best Original Song.
In 2001, Oscar-nominated actress Winona Ryder shoplifted from Saks Fifth Avenue. Her career suffered greatly and she was never able to live it down.
Is your head spinning? It should be.
I don't mean to write this as a "gotcha!" for any of you who have enjoyed the works of these men. Maybe you didn't know and that's okay. But now you do. The fact is, there are many more men who we as a society continue to praise despite their abusive behavior. Why do we celebrate these men for their "art" and ignore and downplay the fact that they have done more damage than good? I don't care that Eminem's music made you want to rap. Neither do I care if "Annie Hall" is your favorite movie or if you can quote every Bill Murray comedy made. I care about the people, the women these men hurt, and how their pain is swept under the rug, so we can enjoy their abusers' art without guilt.
No matter how important we deem a man's art to be, if he has been proven to be an abuser of any kind, his art means nothing. What defines Roman Polanski is not how good "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown," and "The Pianist" are; what defines Polanski is that he is a pedophile and a rapist. We simply cannot argue that the art dangerous men make is more important than the lives of the people they hurt any longer. It is often said that life imitates art and maybe that's true. But the art we have been accepting is ugly and we can no longer support its creators when they do nothing but inflict pain upon others.
So when you watch "Hannah and Her Sisters" or "American Hustle" or listen to "The Marshall Mathers LP," think of these women. Think of how the man who created the art you are enjoying hurt them and changed their lives forever. I ask of you, put these women first and put the art not second, not third, but dead last.
