Hello, I'm Glenn Weldon, and this is NPR's Book of the Day. When a writer, actor, or

musician we love does something shocking, something we deplore, our reaction is up to us.

That's what people who reflectively complain about cancel culture don't get. There's not some

mass email that goes out telling everyone what to think.

The reply alls would never end, for one thing.

No, what there is is a lot of individual fans grappling in their own very different ways with how to process new information that can't help but change their relationship to an artist they identify with. Or maybe it

doesn't change it. The point is, it's nuanced, it's layered, it's fraught. That's what critic and

author Claire Dieter's new book, Monsters of Fans Dilemma, explores. Because it's all well and good

to talk about separating the art from the artist, but what if you just can't?

Dieter talked to Weekend Edition Sundays, Ayesha Roscoe.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods. NPR

reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant

events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get

your podcasts. Is it okay to enjoy art if its creator is compromised?

Maybe you love Michael Jackson's music.

Or you want to watch Woody Allen's Annie Hall.

A relationship, I think, is like a shock.

You know, it has to constantly move forward or it dies.

And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shock.

Or laugh at Bill Cosby.

And I look, and there was chocolate cake.

...