win butler

(this is mostly kinda copied and pasted from my tumblr...)
content warning for sexual misconduct.
i know this is old news, but what the actual fuck, win butler?
i loved arcade fire so much. now i can’t even listen to arcade fire anymore and i am so fucking heartbroken.
even now i still can’t believe that win did what he did. how could someone who seems so socially conscious do something like that? arcade fire’s song porno seems so disgustingly ridiculous now. i hate win butler now, i hate him so much.
i think i understand the concept of heartbreak a bit better now. it’s when you love something so, so much and then suddenly you realise you can’t love it anymore, instead you hate it. heartbreak is a swift decline from overwhelming love to overwhelming hate. and that’s how i feel about arcade fire.
obviously the rest of arcade fire cannot be blamed for win’s actions. régine deserves so much better, and she didn’t have to defend him. but win’s sexual misconduct has taken a toll of many people’s perceptions of arcade fire, including my own. i will never see them in the same way again.
people talk about trying to “separate the art from the artist”. my dad (and hella ignorant mum) still listen to arcade fire. in my dad’s case it’s because he’s kinda managed to separate the music from win butler. (in my mum’s case it’s because she doesn’t fucking care and only knows like two of their songs, she always insults arcade fire’s music when i play it, but suddenly she’s gushing about how much she likes their music… but that’s a whole other rant). i can’t help but wonder if “separating the art from the artist” is ok, rather than having to let go altogether. i mean, michael jackson also did some horrible things and people still play his music everywhere.
i’ve really wanted to discuss this topic with people for a while but nobody has been interested. is it ok to listen to an artist’s music if the artist themselves has harmed people, as long as their harmful actions/opinions aren’t reflected in their music? i first started considering the topic when i learnt about morrissey’s political views. i guess i’ve been fixating on this question because of my moral ocd.
as i said before, i am very heartbroken. to be honest, i don’t think i’m gonna get over this. i guess i’m going to have to say goodbye to arcade fire. i was talking to my dad today about this whole situation, because he's also an arcade fire person. he's been hit hard by this too. and he was talking about how he feels as if win has taken something important away from him. i feel like that too. but i only realised how much has been changed by this, when my dad suddenly went silent then looked up at me and said, i know it's over. he looked so sad and heartbroken. that was the moment i truly truly realised that i had lost arcade fire -- something so so important to me. it's over. oh, mother, i can feel the soil falling over my head.
my heart goes out to those who were directly impacted by win’s sexual misconduct. their heartbreak must be infinitely greater than my own. they are all so brave to have spoken out and i really hope they’re doing ok.
fuck you, win butler!

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