Ask Lemmy

Both of the Linuses

Sebastian and Torvalds

Sebastian because most of the shit he's been accused of has either been fixed openly, or was proven mostly false.

Torvalds because while he can be extremely rude, he generally only does it when the person deserves to be called out. It's not like he's going off at random people. Society says he should use more tact, but the dude is literally responsible for creating and now maintaining arguably the most important piece of the server software stack globally. There's also a very high chance he's on the spectrum.

I mean, I didn't throw out my Harry Potter boxed set just becsuse Rowling is a dumb fucking TERF. I just don't continue buying shit she profits off of, and can see tons of questionable things in her work that I didn't question before knowing her thoughts on things.

I like the world building in Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. But Luc Besson is probably a rapist and certainly a sexual assaulter. I'll watch his old stuff I already own but won't put any more money towards it nor support any new projects.

Edit: oh, also he's not "cancelled". He came out with another movie this year or last, if I recall. 9 times our of 10, celebrities that say they were "cancelled" just had their feefees hurt by people on social media.

Kevin Spacey is a fantastic actor.

Neil Gaiman. I'm extremely depressed that he's actually a POS, and because I loved his work so much, I'm conflicted. His work itself seemed to have well interrogated values woven into it's fiber, but I guess you never can tell.

Edit: really fucking bummed about Red Hot Chili Peppers too

michael jackson made incredible music. i don't even know how much of the stuff about him is true but it does feel weird listening to his stuff now, even though it's extremely well made.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. I have several of his print books and still enjoy reading them; ditto his old cartoons. They really spoke to me years ago, as a cubicle-coder.

I don't enjoy or like public figures. Having never met them, I cannot like them. I do enjoy the works or products of some people, and knowing the person(s) who created something can influence my chances of consuming it.

There are some people who have done, or accused of doing bad things, but they have created works that I enjoyed.

AKA, I never "liked" Neil Gaiman. But I do like American Gods.

H.P. Lovecraft

Lawrence Krauss did this awesome video about global warming for "skeptics" and deniers and it is so good

Only problem I can't really share it because anyone who googles the name learns he's all over the damn Epstein files

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lApLD5g1Nrs

I really liked Chappelle show, but he's really gone bad the last few years being anti trans and all. To say he's canceled is a bit much, though. He's still rich and popular, and selling tickets.

Bill Cosby is a monster, but his stand-up special "Himself" is a master class on comedic story-telling.

Die Antwoord. The music tickles a particular part of my brain, but they're accused of some truly heinous shit.

Louis CK

This is going to get buried, but I miss Bill Cosby, or rather my mental model of him before all that nastiness came out.

Never meet your hero. There are some well known people out there that are great human beings, but just as many who are average or below, and being a celebrity won't help a bad personality get better (usually).

Not only for the reason to keep the illusion, but if I saw someone famous in public I wouldn't be that annoying fan that helps push some to the edge. At best I'd just mention I liked their work (not even saying specifics) and let it be. Again, they are people, and I know I don't like to be bothered with small talk from strangers.

A side note that is a bit related to breaking the false image. When you figure out that your parents and other relatives are just people too, with their own greatness and flaws. It's probably healthy in the long run, but the first shock can be nasty.

I guess I should name someone. Tom Cruise is always the first in my mind. Some incredible work, but he's both weird and given how embedded he is with Scientology, can't be that great of a person to know well. But maybe not... he is peculiar though.

I would love to meet the cast of Andor and Tony Gilroy, they seem amazing, intelligent, and down to earth. But going back to my point, at most all I'd be doing is telling them how great they were at their job, and hope that what they portray in interviews is who they really are.

It always gets me that Matthew Broderick killed two people in a car crash and got off with a $100 fine. I love Ferris Bueller's day off, and I think he's really talented, but like this happened just after that movie, and he just did not seem to be held to account for it.

Probably performers like Jared Leto and Marilyn Manson. They've made some great albums (A Beautiful Lie and Antichrist Superstar) and movie appearances (Requiem for a Dream and Lost Highway), but I understand why they give people the ick.