Critics have hailed Netflixs Beef as one of the best shows of this young year. Its getting loads of praise for its inky-black humor and a cast extremely dedicated to the conceit; Im only on Episode 2, but I can tell that Ill want to move slowly through the 10 episodes to savor it.

Unfortunately, the show started trending a few weeks ago for the wrong reasons: the past of David Choe, who stars as Isaac in Beef and whose paintings are used as the shows title cards.

In 2014, Choe co-hosted the podcast DVDASA with porn star Asa Akira; in one episode, Choe shared a detailed story in which he described committing a full-blown, unambiguous sexual assault against a massage therapist . Ill spare you the details here, but trust me, its bad.

BuzzFeed News posted a story about it back in 2014, and Choe was met with protest when he was commissioned to paint the Bowery Wall in New York City in 2017. Following the outrage over a man admitting in extremely specific and graphic detail his rapey behavior, Choe claimed that the whole account was performative and simply a bad story gone awry. Choe also apparently had Twitter take down the video of him telling the story, citing copyright violations.

Of course, Choe wouldnt be trending right now if Beef didnt have overwhelmingly positive buzz, and folks are understandably curious why the shows producers would earmark such a significant role for a man with a sketchy background that they certainly knew about beforehand.

The widespread condemnation of Choe forced Beef stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, along with creator Lee Sung Jin, to issue a statement denouncing Choes comments but insisting that he put in the work since the story and also backing up Choes insistence that the whole thing was a fabrication.

Whether or not you believe Choes prevarications is between you and your god. But the controversy begs the question: To what degree should we be willing to consume the art of people whose personal actions directly offend our moral sensibilities? Should we still listen to the music and watch the films of people accused of doing things that wed cut our best friends over?

As someone who has lost Facebook friends over the topic, I wager the answer is heavily subjective and nowhere near as cut-and-dry as some people wish it to be.

Hollywood has examined this topic for decades with filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is still allowed to make films despite pleading guilty to raping a minor in the 1970s. For Black folks of a certain age, though, R. Kelly is the most obvious bad actor to consider in this conversation.

Most rational folks have condemned Kelly given the mountain of evidence we have of him being a trash bag of a human. (That it took a three-night documentary in 2019 to finally get him locked up after decades of open indiscretions is a conversation for another time.)

His music is a more complicated conversation: On top of a couple dozen albums of his own, hes written and produced music you love but dont even realize he touched. If you enjoy R&B music from between 1990 and, say, 2003, there are (or were) at least a couple bangers of his on your playlists.

Like many, I cant enjoy Kells music like I used to, especially the cuts in which hes singing about sex. Your Bodys Callin hits differently when the titular body could be that of a teenager. But my line is not as thick and red as others: I still play Sparkles Be Careful and K-Ci & JoJos Life. Im also not above letting a song with one of his nananananaaahh ad-libs rock. But Id be lying if I said there wasnt a slight twinge of guilt when Im enjoying a song in which his voice pops up.

Several Black women who were in the demographic hes preyed upon have admitted to me with hushed tones that they listen to R. Kelly with the doors closed and the windows rolled up. Some justify it by listening in a way that doesnt line his pockets: Hes still nabbing about four-tenths of a penny when you stream the Bump N Grind remix on Spotify; a friend admitted to me yesterday that shes waiting for Kells to die so she can stream The Greatest Sex again.

Fortunately, a lot of people my age can still put their hands on R. Kelly CDs (yours truly included) and play the music in a way that doesnt pay him.

It gets more complicated when discussing Harvey Weinstein, who has about four decades of film and television credits to his name. He was a known savvy businessman , so figure anything you purchase or stream from The Weinstein Co. or the old days of Miramax will somehow line his pockets. Were talking Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, the Scream franchise you probably love at least a few films he helped make.

Im good with streaming Weinstein films for two reasons: First, creating a film is an extremely collaborative effort involving people for whom residuals matter far more than they do to Weinstein. The other is that Weinstein will almost certainly die in prison, so I wont lose sleep contributing to the Nutter Butters hes buying from commissary to get by.

I believe cultural impact and ubiquity also play a role in the terminability of a piece of work. Though The Cosby Show has aged like cottage cheese left out in the sun (especially in contrast to its spinoff A Different World), the show is an important staple of Black culture from the 1980s. I think people whod otherwise never forgive Bill Cosby for being a date rapist should be able to watch the show sans guilt.

It seems easier, and more sensible, to defund bad creators who are still alive, but what about all the dead celebrities whose work we adore? Many are prepared to say goodbye to Jonathan Majors if we learn unequivocally that hes abusive toward women, but so many nonliving legends were domestic abusers James Brown, Biggie Smalls, John Singleton, Miles Davis. Do I never listen to Funky Drummer again? Should I (gasp) ignore rewatching the brilliance of Snowfall?

On the topic of dead legends with profound cultural impact, even if youre convinced Michael Jackson was a sexual predator (still a massive if in my book), is it possible or even reasonable to dismiss the entire oeuvre of arguably the greatest musical artist of all time? His music is woven into the fabric of our reality find me the corner of the world where you can hide from Billie Jean.

If we had a machine allowing us to go down the rabbit hole to see all the personal indiscretions of our favorite artists, actors and athletes, chances are our playlists would be a lot emptier and our Netflix queues would consist only of Tom Hanks films. Factor in writers, producers and the dudes controlling the boom mics, and theres probably zero clean media out there.

As such, I dont think people should judge others on what media they choose or choose not to consume, as its a slippery slope that falls right into a pool of hypocrisy.

If someone standing on a moral high ground insists that they cant be friends with you because you listen to your 12Play CD in your Toyota Corolla from time to time, they probably werent your friend to begin with. If someone criticizes you because you cant enjoy Off the Wall any longer, tell them to kick rocks and maybe reserve some choice words for their mama.

Because even with the highly flammable drama surrounding Choes stuff, Im planning to finish Beef. The folks on this show are insane and Im all in.

Need help? Visit RAINNs National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Centers website .