In the western part of the world, our moral compass has progressed over the years, teaching us right from wrong. As a society, we know that rape, sexual assault, child grooming, murder, and drunk driving are all illicit. All of these crimes evoke anger and sorrow amongst us when committed by a member of the public, however, for some strange unknown reason, when committed by a household name, our moral compass malfunctions.
Celebrities have always had an easier life, better health care, nicer houses and a higher chance of getting away with breaking the law. See due to their more than stable financial situations, and social status they are given leeway when they break the law or the moral code in this instance.
Justifying the wrong-doing of celebrities wasn't harmful at first, as on the surface it seemed minuscule. It was nothing more than letting Charlie Sheen off by assigning him to 30 days in rehab after several assault charges. However, in today's day and age, whenever a celebrity breaks the law or does something unethical, we try to ignore it or find a loophole.
We are in denial of the idea that our icons could be rapists, child molesters, or just bad people. Take R.Kelly, 52, for example, he has been in the public eye as a sexual predator who molests young women, anywhere from the age 12-19. Despite the immense amount of evidence, followed by the fact that R.Kelly was not discreet about his doings, it has taken us over a decade to bring him to justice. The R&B star and child molester married the 15-year-old singer back in 1994, was sued 4 times by underage girls.
In 2002 he was charged with child pornography after a video surfaced of Kelly and a girl who was believed to be 13 giving him oral sex while Kelly urinated on her. The case took 6 years to come to trial, during which the court decided it was unable to confirm that the girl was a minor. The list goes on. However, this wasn't enough for us to hate him just as we would any average joe, it took a whole documentary, 'Surviving R-Kelly', in which women came forward about their sexual assault as a child or how he imprisoned them in a sex cult. And even now many of us still support him, listen to his music, make memes out of the whole story, yet the evidence is so compelling that if this was someone without R.Kelly's influence we would probably want the death penalty for them.
Then we have American director, Woody Allen, 83, and the disturbing fact that he is married to the now 48-year-old Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, his ex-wife. So, yes, at one point Allen's now wife was, in fact, his daughter. Now although she was of legal age when they were married in 1997, their relationship began many years prior. Allen was also accused of sexually assaulting his second co-adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, who was 7 at the time, the claims were supported by Allen's own biological child. But up until this day we praise Woody Allen and his work and whenever anyone mentions his poor morality we excuse it as his ex-wife trying to frame him, although the facts do not add up and then we simply disregard it.
The sad truth is that we can't separate the art from the artist and that doesn't coincide well with us. Because the moment we accept that our beloved Bill Cosby, the man who created 'Little Bill' and 'The Cosby Show' allegedly sexually assaulted 33 different women, we can no longer enjoy these shows. Just how we refuse to swallow the hard pill of truth, that our dearest Michael Jackson groped children because that would mean no more 'Billy Jean' or 'Thriller'.
You could say that our love for art is stronger than our desire to serve justice, or you could say that our love of art and artists pollutes our ethical code. We find external sources to justify their actions rather than see them for who they really are.
Whatever our reasoning, it must stop. We are allowing rapists, abusers and child molesters roam our streets without shame, just because they are a household name. No ordinary person would be treated so gently, so what difference does it make that more people know them? If anything this should be more of a reason to condemn them, as people worldwide look up to them and are swayed due to their social status.
Comments