When you hear about the dark side of people like Phil Spector, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski, Kevin Spacey and so on, can you still appreciate their work?

Absolutely.

Yes. Media products are often made collectively, involving many staff members and various stakeholders, not owing solely to a single celebrity. This is particularly the case for existing ones while the ongoing and future plans can be cancelled.

Similar controversy often arise in Japan when celebrities are arrested and charged. Oddly it may affect past media products.

I oppose the recent attempts to remove Trump from a scene in Home Alone 2. It's a retrospective act and having nothing to do with his late-coming presidency.

It makes it harder.

It's harder to laugh at OJ Simpson in the Naked Gun movies, that's for sure. He committed murder, so it's hard to see him as the cute victim of slapstick. Same with Cosby - his whole schtick was this wise and kind father-figure. I can watch a Polanski film because he is not in front of the camera asking me to suspend disbelief. Kevin Spacey, no problem. First, he is not in the same class as the others here, and secondly because he often plays sleazy characters anyway.

Most of us can, but I can imagine it would be very difficult for the victims, if not impossible.

What makes it easier is that these people never showed any sign of their dark side on the screen. The same can't be said of people like Jimmy Saville and Gary Glitter in the UK. They were very handsy, even on camera. Brings new meaning to Glitter's song, Do You Wanna Touch Me!!!

Depends.

I like their works even more.

Yes. nobody will go through their life untarnished. You're appreciating the person's work anyway and not the person who made them.

Absolutely. Their works that made them famous are abstracted from their personal lives. Good or bad.

They have to live up to what they did or do but we can not condemn their work because of that or inspite of that.

It's difficult to watch something from the 70s (like the Goodies on British TV) when Rolf Harris is gently mocked - guy was a monster. Gary Glitter, I can't listen to... and Jimmy Saville... he was always creepy. Louis Theroux interviewed him and he was just a weirdo.

I was never a fan of Spacey or Cosby, and I'd never heard of OJ Simpson before the car chase. I loved the Naked Gun series of films but Simpson's character never really stuck in my memory - I watched them for Leslie Nielson.

Why not, I'm pretty fond of Hitler's art.

No, pedos and rapists get no more money from me.

No pure angels anywhere, that’s clear. Everyone has some hidden carpet-enveloped corpses in the attic, one day smelling or if lucky undiscovered. lol

Kevin Spacey, no problem. First, he is not in the same class as the others here, and secondly because he often plays sleazy characters anyway.

Good point. There are degrees here. Thunderbird2 mentioned Jimmy Saville - a thing of pure filth. He turns my stomach.

My brother said he got criticised at work for lightheartedly suggesting an annual ‘Kevin Spacey Award’ for the person with the most inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

The list omits the most popular performer who applies, Michael Jackson. His popularity fires massive denial about him. His music is still everywhere and mostly unquestioned.

A large number of 1970s rock stars clearly and knowingly went with underage girls, some 12 and 13. This was public knowledge twenty years ago, but is now hushed up because "liking em young" is not treated as a joke any more. This includes the biggest names in hard and alternative rock, men who get massive gushing obituaries in the newspaper.

I think that everybody has a dark side, and have skeleton's in the closet in one form or another, so I often reserve judgement on such issues if it is gossip. As the old saying goes "nobodies perfect".

I mean look at the average artist in any discipline: Music, Acting Painting or literature? Who have we got who is NOT a pervert? None. Nobody. They all appear to be perverts to me. I used to reiect artists due to their lifestyles but there was NOBODY LEFT. I then decided to only devote myself to sport instead (umtil sports stars began turning-up as perv's also). So, eventually out of nothing but pragmatism I then decided that I would begin to just appreciate their art irrespective of the person, simply because, in my personal opinion, the majority of artists right across the art spectrum are absolute perverts. (Sorry but, you gotta tell it the way it is sometimes).

The cases of Cosby, Savile, Polanski, are not 'gossip'. They are proven facts. Saying you 'reserve judgement' on these men means you tolerate sexual assault.

It is a disgrace that Savile and Cosby - and Weinstein, another name curiously omitted from the list - were allowed to get away with what they did for so long.

It changes my view when I hear background stories, as if I can no longer reclaim my innocence. All kinds of emotions and prejudices bubble up inside. It's sad, but better to know, and to ponder these things, I guess.

If I see a water colour painted by Hitler, (Raw Beer above), then it is definitely a window into understanding the complex soul of someone like that, but maybe I can still judge the presence (or absence) of art quality in it.

Context is important in appreciating the work of exposed dark personalities.

It's very difficult.

But not as difficult for their victims when they have to see these faces around forever immortalized in celluloid.

Some of my favourite films and tunes would be involving these actors/directors/producers.

I mean look at the average artist in any discipline: Music, Acting Painting or literature? Who have we got who is NOT a pervert? None. Nobody. They all appear to be perverts to me.

You need to broaden your horizons, not your brush strokes, then.

I can still appreciate The Cosby Show, yes.

Anything else any of them have done, no.

These are just the ones we know about.  My guess way more "creative" who don't live up to our high moral standards

Especially for actors, big problem is audience punters and media hacks mistaking performance persona for real actual individual persona.

Also, their performances take on aura and a kind of life of their own - think of all those songs in your head and not knowing who made them.

For instance, Kevin Spacey really is a Usual Suspect, and Donald Trump really was an Apprentice’s boss.

Of course NOT! I cannot respect someone without morality and dignity.

Yes. Watching their movies does not mean i agree with their opinions, what they have done, worldview, etc.