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"Separate art from artist" is one of those vague phrases that can mean very different things depending on context.
From a media analysis perspective, it can mean to simply evaluate the work on its own without considering who made it or authorial intent. Another way of saying Death of the Author. This is a valid lens of media analysis, but it should not be the only lens.
More often though it gets used as a way of saying "I'm just going to pretend any controversies surrounding the author don't exist and enjoy it anyway." Now I'm not going to tell anyone they can't enjoy anything by problematic creators, because I certainly have my share of such works I still enjoy. I'm not pure and I think anyone who claims to be is lying.
But I still think it is necessary to acknowledge and engage with those controversies - especially when it comes to financially supporting such creators or boosting their platform. You have to decide for yourself where to draw the line, but you should make that decision without plugging your ears and sticking your head in the sand.
The worst way of using this phrase though, is when people use it to mean "You should pretend any controversies surrounding the author don't exist, stop bringing it up, don't even talk about it. I don't want to do any introspection about it, so it makes me feel insecure when anyone else does." When people try to use it as a conversation stopper in response to controversy, that's complete bullshit.
Consider H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was a hugely influential writer who spawned an entire subgenre of horror. He was also a horrible racist, and that puts his body of work in a different light when you recognize how much of it is ultimately about fear of Other.
As far as media analysis goes, it's not like his work is inherently racist. Just because he was a bigot doesn't mean his writing is. But his bigotry certainly did influence his writing, and it's necessary to understand this to truly understand Lovecraft. Lovecraft is tied to his work in a way that can't fully be separated.
From a financial perspective, Lovecraft is long dead, and all of his work has passed into the public domain. Reading his work won't fuel further bigotry, and so I don't think it's something anyone has to feel bad about.