First, the quality of the work determines whether we care about an artist being “cancelled”. The second point is that we will only look the other way if the work permits us to. Photograph: Howard Coster/Hulton ArchiveThe great conflict arises when the work is good and the behaviour is unambiguously harmful. Photograph: Anadolu Agency via GettyThat brings us to the distinction between acts and words – and back to Richard Ford and Peter Handke. Ford and Handke are award-winning writers and public figures; when Ford spat on Colson Whitehead (“you spat on my book”), he was accused of racism.

Source: The Irish Times July 09, 2020 05:00 UTC