Not really, I can distance them in my mind to some degree while still appreciating the art but only if it doesn’t require a bunch of mental gymnastics. J.K is past the level for me because I took positive lessons from her books that she ironically didn’t learn herself. Her stance irl seems to be antithetical to the books, she would be the villain in her own stories.

Kanye… more complicated for me. I can still separate art from artist when I listen to his old work. I’ve struggled with some pretty similar things to him, mental health wise. It’s hard to imagine being in his position. Now he’s apologizing for the nazi shit, and yeah words are great but they need to be followed with actions, and a lot of them. If what he said is true (walking around with an undiagnosed TBI for years) then what he did makes sense, but just apologizing isn’t enough. Not even close. His trump arc did immeasurable damage, so for the apology to feel legit, he needs to put in enough positive work to balance it out plus extra. And I haven’t really seen any actions to follow the apology yet.

The more I like your art, the more I am willing to put up with some bs from you as a person. But the line, for me, is hypocrisy. Because then the art loses meaning as a piece of the artist.

To call him the inflection point, as if this wasn’t a more complex change emerging over time, is ridiculous. You are clearly speaking from an outside perspective. He has never come close to flashing his wealth or showing a ‘lifestyle’, anything that has came definitively after his peak. The influencer issue was also far more complex. Instagram was the central breeding ground for those types, and twitter was still conversationally relevant.

Even if he was the inflection point, what now? You expect someone at the center of things to realize their unique position, and then realize the most morally correct thing (to you) to do about it? Patently ridiculous, hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to larger cultural movements like influencers.

Calling pewdiepie an influencer shows how little you understand that sphere. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Any free vpn is good enough to shield from dmca consequences on your own network, and takes the place of the brave shield in your stack. This doesn’t apply if you’re collecting huge amounts, or doing something besides just consuming media, something that activates the deeper tentacles of the fed. But the days of individuals being prosecuted under dmca for personal piracy are pretty much long past.

Edit: try to make sure said vpn isn’t also running a cryptominer, and you can safely assume they’re selling your info. So be aware of what you give them.