Photos by Jamie McCarthy, Kevin Winter, and Rich Fury

In tragically familiar news, a powerful man in entertainment was recently revealed to be a scumbag. Harvey Weinstein, who spent millions paying off women who accused him of sexual assault, was involved in hundreds of great works including Project Runway, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, and Air Bud. Weinstein, of course, is terrible, and none of his work redeems this. The question, for some, is how to deal with a beloved work once it bears the taint of Weinstein’s involvement.



There’s no one “correct” way to feel about good work that involves a bad person, or even a good person with some bad behaviors. But if you’re unsure how to feel as a fan, there’s plenty of advice online. Here’s our guide to some of the best reading on the subject.

The group-Tumblr Your Fave Is Problematic (now abandoned) called out a wide range of potentially offensive behaviors by celebrities. Its title became an adage (and frequent headline), meaning “The people and works you love often do harmful things.”


The blog itself was often problematic, but as Vice pointed out, it helped educate many readers, introducing many to concepts like cultural appropriation, transmisogyny, and microaggressions. Its “Now What?” section is a succinct guide to dealing with a problematic fave. It gives a generous answer to the question: “Am I still allowed to like a problematic fave?”

Yes. No one is stopping you from doing anything. You can like and consume their work without liking them as a person. You can even like them as a person, so long as you recognize that they do have problematic issues.﻿




Of course, some creators you probably shouldn’t like as a person, such as Weinstein and fellow alleged sexual aggressors Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, Woody Allen, and Roman Polanski. No amount of charm, warmth, or intelligence redeems an unapologetic molester or rapist. Every fan will draw their own line between mistakes and unforgivable sins, and most writers on the subject grant them this freedom. But most creators are open to improvement, and YFIP encourages fans to call out bad behavior not just as punishment or warning, but to help creators evolve.