This is an interesting and well thought-out take on the specific subject:

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Jennifer Pozner: "I take a hard line as a media critic when Hollywood or the music industry actively profit from and are complicit in sexual assault or other kinds of violence by its cash cows (think R. Kelly, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Jian Ghomeshi). Culpability rests with the industry that props up celebrity abusers for profit, rather than on individuals who listen to a song or watch a film — though fans share some responsibility for continued support of artists enabled to keep perpetrating abuse because of their fans' financial fuel. Still, I'm not sure it's fair to ask fans to stop enjoying the work of artists who are simply assholes, but not violent or aggressively discriminatory.

So, for example: I enjoyed dancing to cheesy Ace of Base songs like other 90s kids, but I won't sing them at nostalgia karaoke after learning that their lead singer was a neo-Nazi skinhead before he turned to whitewashed (sad pun intended) pop. His lyrical attempts to radicalize listeners into embracing hatred of and violence against Jews, Black people, immigrants, and others is a clear reason to shun his work.

On the other hand, the growing tendency to discard any public figure who says or does something we don't like can be shortsighted when their behavior doesn't rise to broader sociopolitical relevance. As gross as Joss Whedon's comments about being 'surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women… Suddenly I am a powerful producer and the world is laid out at my feet and I can't touch it' on the Buffy set were, and as disrespectful as his affairs were to his wife, that doesn't rise to the level of requiring fans to throw away his work (though like any artist, the content of his work itself is always fair game for substantive critique around gender, race, sexuality, and more).

He's not a feminist in his personal relationships, but douchey behavior isn't the place where the 'discard this person as a creator, and discount their work' line should get drawn. It would be different if he sexually harassed or discriminated against coworkers, but lying/cheating seems an unreasonable standard: if we extend the line to assholes, how much art would we have left to consume? Shady jerks are everywhere in the industry."

The other responses are also worth considering: [link]

You can see critics and fans wrestling with it.

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Esther Kustanowitz: "The Joss Whedon situation hit me hard, because I was a huge fan of his work and saw him as such a champion of women. (I even wrote about it once, and that last episode of Buffy, as girls everywhere wake up to their own power, still makes me cry even while writing about it. Seriously. Just watched it again, and waterworks.) I even remembered being jealous when I heard an early demo version of some 'Once More with Feeling' songs sung by Kai; I imagined them in an equally partnered space of feminism, respect, music, humor and love that I was envious of and wanted for my own.

But this was a reminder again that you never know what's going on in someone else's relationship; that our idols have feet of clay; that in Hollywood, image is cultivated and constructed with a purpose. I can't imagine what it's like to be Kai, learning that her husband had betrayed and having to live in a world that idolized her husband for his support of women. But I also can't put aside the culture he created — perhaps, at least with the earlier of his works, while his vision and leadership was at the helm, it's worth celebrating the many many others who worked to expand ideas, creatively imagining and building those universes with him. For future works?

This isn't a 'Cosby situation,' so I'm not in the 'boycott' camp, but as I consume, and probably enjoy, the creative works where he's had an impact, I'll focus any appreciation on his writing talent, but will be significantly less worshipful of the man and his presence in the world."

Regarding assholeness, I imagine there are tons of asshokes in Hollywood. There sure are in the theatre. One thing I love about Lin Manuel Miranda and his creative team is that they actively speak about not having to be assholes to go through an artistic process. They just don't accept that. I hope they never change.

I suspect that Joss will be collecting a check and maybe sometimes serving as a creative advisor. I can't imagine he'll be heavily involved.

According to Tim's FB, he will be involved, and the EP title is not a courtesy in this case. (Tim seems to think he's being helpful by reassuring the fanbase that Joss *will* be creatively involved. I don't want to get into a FB argument about it on his page, but DUDE STOP HELPING.)

I can't imagine a scenario where Joss doesn't write the pilot. He's got too much invested in the series to let somebody else set the tone.

I expect he will also be involved in breaking the season.

And I expect he'll do what he's always done - which is take a pass at scripts.

But with his new show, The Nevers, going into production I expect he won't be a regular writer and his involvement will lessen as the show gets going.

The more Joss involvement, the less interested I will be, just based on my enjoyment of his recent work, not any of the personal stuff. But also based on the personal stuff.

In general, I am willing to separate the art from the artist to a point that varies based on both the art and the artist, but also my direct involvement in the artist's success. I mean, looking at a Picasso painting in a museum doesn't put money in his pocket the way buying a ticket to a Woody Allen movie does.

In general, I am willing to separate the art from the artist to a point that varies based on both the art and the artist.

I'm usually willing to do that, too. Hell, I still listen to Motley Crue. (But they never presented themselves as anything other than raging trashfires.) With Bowie, the were the 70s a massively different time, but he changed his behavior. Ray Bradbury, my patron saint, said some cringy stuff wrt to gender roles, but was such a massive force for good that I'm willing to give him a pass on that. Plus, the era he was from predisposed him to the "Women are nurturing and aren't interested in science stuff" nonsense, but he learned. He changed his views.

Johnny Depp? I'm uneasy about rewatching his work (even his collaborations with Tim Burton), and I almost certainly won't be rushing to see anything new he does. Joss? I still like what he did with Buffy, Angel, and The Avengers, but will wait for reviews of anything new, because if he displays his kinks and issues in there, I'll probably pass. Especially because part of his defending himself was the "Temptation! So hard to resist! I knew I shouldn't! But needy, vulnerable young women!" routine.

If it turns out that Robert Smith did these sorts of behaviors, I don't know what I'll do besides cry in shock.

I don't like feeling as if I am responsible for judging who is morally sound enough for me to reward with my audience or patronage or whatever. Art I fall in love with is generally because it feels, y'know, true, like the person/people who made it really know how the world is so if it turns out that they treat some people as if they were not really human it's severely disappointing and makes their work enormously less attractive. I can analyse the whys and wherefores of it, but it's not, like, something I can decide rationally.

Woody Allen, for example, I have no real interest in seeing anything new he does, but I still think that Bullets Over Broadway and Deconstructing Harry are amazing and have important things to say. I'm pretty sure that what I get out of them is not what he meant me to, but that's okay.

Joss - on the one hand, the little things that always kinda bugged me about him are validated. So, less disappointing, in a way. But on the other, well, I had a male friend who made a comment once about a particular season of Buffy being "all about bouncy breasts" and at the time I was like, he's watching it wrong, and now I have that little question of maybe I was giving too much credit to empowerment over exploitation and it just makes me angry.

I think he was watching it wrong. I don't recall thinking that was a problem in any season of Buffy, and I was definitely aware of similar issues at the time, like the lead character on Dark Angel going into heats or a teacher on Smallville who looked and acted like she stepped out of a Van Halen video.

He didn't regard it as a problem...