It’s a difficult one. Like you
@WMD I know at least one person who was a Lost Prophets fan and after all the stuff about Watkins came out they chucked their albums and vowed never to listen to them again. I don’t really listen to the radio but I’m sure they did the same (like how we’ll never see re-runs of TotP with Jimmy Savile again). But at the same time as I can totally understand people feeling duped and let down by people they supported, as well as a certain measure of horror or guilt that their money might have helped enable their crimes, I also feel there are other factors to consider.
Firstly, I don’t personally believe that someone’s personal actions make their art objectionable. I mean, look at MJ. Whether he did all those things he is accused of doing or not (and we’ll probably never know) he was still an amazing artist and no amount of revelations could make his music any less brilliant. The same goes for people further back in history like Thomas Jefferson, no amount of debate over the nature of his relationship with Sally Hemmings (again, we’ll never know) can change the fact he was an incredible thinker and visionary. Perhaps some people are just more haunted by these things and struggle to separate creations from creator, and if people can’t read a book or listen to an album without those thoughts intruding into their enjoyment then fair enough, I wouldn’t enjoy that experience either. I’m lucky that I can separate art from artist, I guess.
Secondly, and more sad, is the fact that in a lot of cases people there was more than one person involved in creating a lot of things that get shoved down the memory hole, especially in the case of bands. I mean there were other members of Lost Prophets than just Watkins, but now all the music they created is tarnished and hidden away, and I can’t quite imagine how it must feel to be a member of the Glitter Band.