Diddy is just the latest in a long line of musical abusers. How should fans respond?

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.& Charles Sykes/Invision/AP by Catherine Strong, RMIT University; Bianca Fileborn, The University of Melbourne, and Paige Klimentou, RMIT University The perennial question of what to do with musicians and their work when they are found to have been abusive has arisen again this week, as distressing video footage of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his then girlfriend Cassandra Ventura in a hotel in 2016 was released by CNN. Last year, Combs settled a lawsuit brought against him by Ventura, which accused him of sexual and physical violence over the course of more than a decade. Following the video’s release, Combs posted an apology video in which he states “My behavior […] is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video”. This is at odds with a 2023 post in which he wrote “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth”. But why does it matter if artists are abusers? And what impact does it have on fans when these cases emerge? A crisis of men’s violence High-profile cases can play an important role...