"How could you be listening to Melanie Martinez?"

I paused the song and looked at my friend, who was staring at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I like this song?"

"Yeah, but you can't support her anymore. They say she raped someone."

I don't remember how I responded, but I do remember feeling oddly guilty. I didn't know whether or not the allegations were true of course, but that wasn't the point. What if they were true? Was I a bad person if I continued to like and listen to someone who supposedly committed such a terrible crime?

I've run into this kind of thing a lot more than I previously realized. I know people that boycott Chick-Fil-A because of its stance on gay rights, condemn Walt Disney as anti-semitic and refuse to watch Johnny Depp movies because of the domestic abuse controversy surrounding him.

This even pops up in fictional works. Endeavor, a powerful superhero from the anime "My Hero Academia," has rescued hundreds — if not thousands — of people in his career. Yet behind closed doors, he is an abusive tyrant, guilty of driving his wife to madness and nearly turning his son into a remorseless soldier. It's situations like this that beget the question: should we stop enjoying something just because the person that created it is accused or found guilty of doing something terrible?

My answer is no.

Watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" doesn't mean that you're supporting Depp's tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife, Amber Heard, and you're not an enemy of the LGBTQ+ community by eating that chicken sandwich. Boycotting the work of a "bad person" is pointless because you already recognize that whatever they did is wrong. In the end, you're just needlessly depriving yourself of something you enjoy.

Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't protest to bring attention to an unjust situation. After all, that's what Martin Luther King Jr. did with the bus boycott, and it's what Colin Kaepernick did by refusing to stand for the pledge. There's a difference between bringing attention to something and writing off a person's work entirely.

The distinction should also fall on not allowing the person's previous accomplishments or personality to cloud the severity of their offenses. Hitler was a charismatic guy, but that charisma doesn't redeem his numerous atrocities.

In short, I think that you shouldn't feel bad for enjoying harmless things just because they may be associated with a person who's done something wrong. It's not your fault they did whatever they did, and it's not your fault they also happened to make something you like. As long as you recognize that your consumption doesn't validate the creator's wrong-doings, then you can go right ahead and listen to that Melanie Martinez song.