Just as a service worker’s tolerance for asshole behavior from a customer rises in direct proportion to how much he spends, so too will music fans overlook an artist’s morally repugnant private life in proportion to the assumed value of his output. People hate Chris Brown because he is too famous for music that is not good enough to replace his womanbeating as the first thing they think of when they hear his name. 

George Jones was a wifebeater, but when you hear his name I bet you think of “White Lightning” or that story about him driving the riding mower to the bar before you think about that. James Brown was arrested—a LOT—on domestic violence charges. But that’s not the first thing I think of when I hear him. It’s not even the first thing I think of when Ike Turner’s name is mentioned (Rocket ‘88 always starts playing in my head, and then I remember seeing him in Memphis sometime in the 90s with his ridiculously hot statuesque young girlfriend). 

So, when Chris Brown is the subject, we must always discuss his womanbeating because 1) it’s the most interesting thing about him and 2) his musical catalog does not carry enough weight to combat his assholism. There is some sort of algorithm that determines at which point “artistic merit” overcomes “being a horrible person” and he is so very much on the wrong side of that. 

(thanks to this)