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As of this writing, the world has just learnt that As I Lay Dying and Austrian Death Machine frontman Tim Lambesis has pleaded guilty of murder-for-hire. Among many the sentiment is one of disbelief. As I Lay Dying were massively popular in the metal scene, particularly among Christians. Despite the evidence piling up against him, many fans simply didn’t want to believe that he was capable of such an act.

It’s an understandable emotion. We tend to look up to celebrities, and often when we’re a fan of an artist’s work, we think we should be fans of the people behind it. Of course, this is the wrong way to think. Artists are not untouchable; they are flawed human beings as everyone is, some more flawed than others. But, should the opposite be true? Are we able to enjoy the work of a man who tried to get his wife killed? For what it’s worth, I have never been a fan of Lambesis’ music and as such am approaching this from somewhat of an outsider’s perspective.

Of course I respect a celebrity much more if they are a generally good person. However, if I am not a fan of their work this isn’t going to change my opinion of them. For example, I’m not a fan of Keanu Reeves’ movies, but I don’t have a single bad thing to say about him. On the flip side, I love The Smashing Pumpkins and I’m able to ignore the fact that Billy Corgan is generally a dick.

A case like Lambesis’ is much more complicated. Billy Corgan isn’t a particularly nice person, but he has never done anything nearly as abhorrent as Lambesis has. As far as I am aware, I am not personally a big fan of anyone who has committed a crime nearly as terrible as that. Perhaps the worst person who’s music I actively enjoy is Dave Mustaine, who’s highlights include telling starving African woman, many of whom are raped, to “put a plug in it,” and stop having so many kids, and claiming that Barack Obama staged mass shootings in an effort to impose gun control laws.

Comments like these severely deter my ability to enjoy Mustaine’s music, but it is still possible. While, with Corgan I can enjoy his music while acknowledging that he’s a dick, with Mustaine I have to actively try to keep that out of my head. And it goes without saying, that whenever he says something abhorrent, which is fairly often, I find it especially difficult to listen to him for a while.

But even Mustaine is nowhere near the same ballpark that Lambesis is in. But it’s not as if the general public is unable to enjoy an artist’s work even if they have committed a serious crime. Roman Polanski is considered an incredible director, despite it being well known that he drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, and has never faced the charges for this crime. He has even been defended by many major Hollywood stars.

Now, of course many would argue that Polanski’s work has more artistic merit than Lambesis’ and while I don’t necessarily believe that is inherently true, I see the point in that. Polanski has created films which are considered among the greatest of all time, and they shouldn’t be ignored solely because of his personal crimes. That said, I find it difficult watching his films and would certainly never want to support him financially.

I can accept defending an artist’s work despite their personal life. What I cannot accept is defending or ignoring said personal life. I don’t believe that when talking about Polanski’s movies, the fact that he is a rapist needs to be brought up, although it is not totally invalid to do so. I do believe however that when discussing Polanski as a person, or discussing his life in general, then said rape case absolutely must be brought up, and should be looked at for what it is. No amount of, “Oh, but he’s a fantastic director,” changes the horrifying reality of just what he did.

The same is true of Lambesis. No matter how much you may like As I Lay Dying, it is unacceptable to defend his actions in any way. I’m reminded of many fan’s reactions when Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins pleaded guilty to attempted rape of a baby. Watkins’ crimes were terrifying, beyond anything I had ever heard of before, and the public ended up hearing a lot of the sickening details, yet despite many claimed he was set up in some way. Many more proudly proclaimed they would still listen to Lostprophets, as they are now doing with As I Lay Dying. This behaviour is unacceptable. While I would find it impossible to do so, I believe it is still ok to listen to Lostprophets or As I Lay Dying. However, if you are proudly proclaiming, straight after the end of an extremely dramatic court case over the attempted rape of a baby, that you will continue listening to and supporting the attempted rapist’s work, then you are quite frankly a terrible person.

These reactions are nothing new of course. Perhaps the worst fans (with the possible exception of the ones above) are a subset of Chris Brown’s fans, who, after he brutally beat his then-girlfriend Rihanna, rather than do the logical thing and accept that a person who’s music they enjoy is a terrible human being, chose to instead participate in victim-blaming, insisting that Rihanna was somehow at fault. I’m dismayed to see that people are still defending the awful acts of celebrities in this way. I would have hoped that, as we’ve seen many celebrities and “national treasures” arrested under Operation Yewtree that this behaviour would have somewhat settled down, as we have all be forced to face the harsh reality that many of the people we once looked up to have done terrible things. Unfortunately it seems I was wrong.