Maybe it’s just a generational difference, but when I was a teenager, who I thought was cool was usually just band members of my favourite bands. Since social media wasn’t a thing, there was nothing they were trying to sell us other than CDs, t-shirts, and concert tickets. Even then, there was usually a mental separation between the person and the art, so when the person turned out to be a trash bag, it had very little influence on fans.
Maybe it’s just a generational difference, but when I was a teenager, who I thought was cool was usually just band members of my favourite bands. Since social media wasn’t a thing, there was nothing they were trying to sell us other than CDs, t-shirts, and concert tickets. Even then, there was usually a mental separation between the person and the art, so when the person turned out to be a trash bag, it had very little influence on fans.