I finally figured out my red line for whether an artist should be cancelled: It depends how much I love the artist’s work. I was with a friend and we were talking about Pink Floyd, whose lead singer has fully outed himself as a proud anti-Semite over the past decade or so. He is dead to me, I told my friend. Her response: “As angry as I am right now, I know at some point I’m going to listen to Pink Floyd again. I love the music too much.”
Just like that, a pin popped my moralistic bubble. Even though I love the music of Pink Floyd, I can live without it. It was easy to make my grand statement.
But you know who I can’t live without? Roald Dahl. When I learned many years ago that he was an anti-Semite, I simply accepted it. At that time, cancel culture hadn’t reached its ascendancy and I never even contemplated a boycott.
After listening to a radio adaptation of some of his letters, I even shared in this space my admiration for how he continued in the face of tragedies. My love for the works of Roald Dahl are deeper than the hostility he had toward my people.
Does this make sense?
When Oct. 7 happened, I learned of so many artists, musicians and actors who made it clear they did not value the lives of anyone killed by Palestinian terrorists — be they Israeli, Jewish, Bedouin, Nepali, Thai, I could go on. My cancel list got longer and longer — and to this day, no one has come off.
But I wonder if I’ll truly be able to abide lifelong. There’s one actor in particular whose movies practically defined my teenage years. He is unapologetically and fully anti-Semitic, often sharing incorrect “facts” (how is that for any oxymoron) and stoking anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred. At least Roald Dahl wasn’t on the front lines actively causing Jews’ harm. But will I really, really never again watch “Better Off Dead”? It seems unlikely.
It’s often said that the negative is more powerful than the positive. Negative events are recalled more vividly; patients share a medication’s negative side effects; bad news gets more attention than good news.
But my conversation with my friend taught me that love of something can outweigh its negative parts.
I’m curious to see in the coming years who will remain on my blacklist — and whose movies, music and art I will quietly welcome back in.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
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