Dear Louis Theroux, on the subject of XXXTentacion
Last week, revered journalist and documentary royalty Louis Theroux Tweeted out a message into the ever-alert ether. After a tragic death, it was a message of support, a message of appreciation, and a message of respect. Before I go on, I’ll briefly note that I too experience feelings of support, appreciation and respect; feelings which I normally associate with Louis Theroux. I support his work, I appreciate his style, and I respect his persona: an undeterred investigator, bringing the lives of those on the fringes to the forefront — and also a quirky British man with a fun accent.
Last week, however, this show of support, appreciation and respect was just something I didn’t understand. The tweet read: “Notwithstanding personal demons, he was a huge talent & bringing a beautiful new feel to hip hop. So sad. #moonlight”.
Louis, if you’re reading this, you are entitled to your opinion, if that is indeed your opinion. But I’m still holding out hope that the tweet was an elaborate ruse to encourage people to think about how we’re engaging with this conversation.
Nevertheless, I engaged. Why was not just one but many public figures responding with such fervour? With such admiration?
If you haven’t read or heard the name XXXTentacion, then I would encourage you to read and read widely. Find different sources, listen to his music, read court transcripts, do your homework. What you will read from me is in no way an unbiased account of the story. Head to Fox News if you want the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
To really understand the situation, we need to first examine what XXXTentacion did in his brief lifetime. So we ask: did he build a successful reputation and brand from the ground up, stemming from SoundCloud rap? Yes. Did he create music which was new and invigorating for the hip hop genre? Yes. Did he promote positivity on all of his social media accounts and ask his fans to do the same? Yes. Did he allow fans, young and old, to feel supported and less alone thanks to his openness on issues like suicide and depression? Yes. Was he an artist who created quality art, art to be admired? Yes.
We must also ask the less savoury questions, the questions that smear his less than perfect reputation. For instance, did he get arrested for multiple charges of armed robbery, witness tampering, witness harassment, domestic battery by strangulation and aggravated battery of a pregnant woman? Did he beat said woman senseless in a bathtub and force her into hiding to mask his shameful actions? Did he therefore cause the misery and torture of another human being, causing just as much trauma as he attempts to dispel from young people? Did he respond to the accusations via Instagram with the following: “fuck ya’ll little sisters in their throats … Anybody that called me a domestic abuser, I’m finna domestically abuse ya’ll little sisters’ pussy from the back.”. Did he also say, “If you want your pussy domestically abused, hit my line”? Did he publicly and consistently use language which perpetuated the sexually obedient, degrading and demeaning status of women, infecting a generation of young men with these same hideous perspectives on gender?
Yes.
There are also questions I could be asking around violence at concerts, artist feuds, and still more unfortunate social media content. But for now I will stick to the things which I believe to be indisputably true.
And therein lies the rub (or, if you wish to quote accurately, “there’s the rub”, but I think the addition of ‘therein’ really makes this sentence sing), both of these accounts of the same man can be simultaneously true. They don’t exist in isolation. They don’t cancel each other out. XXXTentacion can be both a musical genius; a game changer that speaks to a generation; and he can also be a violent, terrifying monster who uses his strength and status to overpower and abuse. This final accusation may seem cruel, unwarranted with the knowledge that this man’s life was taken just one week ago. But it’s not. XXXTentacion’s life and subsequent memory in death speaks to a much larger question that we have always struggled with in our society: can we separate the artist from the art?
In my opinion as an artist, the answer is no. The artistic product cannot be abstracted from the experiences, history, and actions of the artist who created it. A piece is not great in itself — it is great because someone breathes life into it. But this separation of art and artist is a problem society seems to have struggled with over and over in recent times. We seem unable to negotiate the divide between ‘good art’ vs ‘bad person’. R. Kelly, Casey Affleck, Chris Brown, Roman Polanski, the list of prime examples goes on. So should we let them be? Leave them to their work, damn the cost?
The problem stems from the fact that our answer to ‘good artist vs. bad person’ is that we forgive these people of their sins. We overlook or downplay their past crimes because of some false belief that their artistic talent is worth more than all the negatives combined. “Oh sure, he smashed a gay man’s head on a concrete block because of his latent homophobia, but that bass was lit”. Obsession with artistic brilliance makes us lazy in our condemnation of those accused, it’s a convenient excuse to brush aside what is, in any other circumstance, a horrifying display of inhumanity. Read: Louis Theroux, so-called “past demons”.
Mistake me not, however. My focus on Theroux is not to casually target a single person for their opinion, especially when there are hordes of other celebrities also sharing similar messages. It’s also worth noting that Louis has since retweeted an article which extensively details all XXXTentacion’s gruesome actions. But the point still stands: everything we contribute to the conversation matters. Well, what I personally contribute to the conversation doesn’t matter so much, but Louis Theroux? A man who appeals to audiences across the political spectrum? What he says matters. Journalists, musicians, artists, politicians, all have a part to play in shaping the discourse.
And here’s the kicker, here is the pivotal point of this diatribe which I have obviously been building to — here’s the climax, folks: if we cannot separate the art from the artist, then we need to find a new way to talk about it. Because if we continue to allow praise to exist simultaneously alongside criticism, we allow artists to continue with their beyond questionable morals. They can exist as monsters, degenerates of society, so long as they have some viable talent to back it up. But why can’t we encourage a new type of artist?
In a world where information has never been more accessible, where we are beyond whatever modernism and post-modernism originally stood for, and where our definitions of celebrity and fame could extend to literally anyone, audiences have the power to encourage the type of artist who is undeniably brilliant and also not a monster. Because the truth is, artists come and go, they will always exist, they will always create work which flourishes against the backdrop of a skewed or corrupt society. What we don’t seem to understand is that we — all of us who listen, read, view, and engage with artistic content — have the power to control what type of person flourishes. If we stop making excuses for those that just can’t seem to help their unforgivable behaviour, then we can make way for a new type of artist. Prove to people that unless they can be good, they are not worth our time.
Basically, we need to sacrifice creative genius for a better future generation of artists. You make a brilliant and world changing song? Who gives a fuck, you’re a terrible person, so game over.
In the case of XXXTentacion, he created ground breaking music, he encouraged youth struggling with depression. I would, in no way, support a celebration or ‘laughing react’ to news of his death. That seems far too callous. But I would argue that we start putting his actions in life, towards women and towards those who he used his power over to abuse, above what he created. I would put his actions before talent. And I would do that with every other artist that is still out there, making their millions while manipulating the mainstream narrative.
Artistic brilliance does not negate the actions of a serial abuser nor does it need to be the factor we place at the forefront of our speech.
P.S. — Louis, if you’re still reading, please produce something in Australia soon. There are so many unheard voices that need a bit of acknowledgement.
Written by Shannan Ely, a Sydney-based theatre maker with a love of all things political theatre and Brecht.
You can find out more about her work at: www.shannanely.com
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