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Comment by brtkdotse | Hacker News Reader

He was, and quite a prominent one as well. While it low-key bugs me, I decided I won’t let it destroy the beauty of his art for me.

In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks. John Lennon, for example, beat his first wife.

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Seconded. Scientology is pretty good at corrupting people, and has quite a few prominent people in their ranks. John Travolta, Chick Corea, Tom Cruise, Isaac Hayes. Pretty sad in a way.

Corea's touring group was all sourced from Scientologists. It allowed him and the church to manipulate his staff. A colleague of mine helped on an overseas tour and accidentally incurred a $18,000 cell phone bill (international roaming charges out the wazoo.)

They dumped her when she complained, and found another church member to fill in. An actual tour manager would have cost more money and would have had a contract to get expenses like that paid.

What a pity that such a talent should have a shadow hanging over him.

Like most Scientology celebs, he was carefully taken care of by the church. I doubt he was ever aware of how shitty they treated his staff.

Next to impossible, but maybe.

>In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks.

I'm actually an advocate of doing just that. Less idolization, less focus on the person, and more focus on learning from their work and results.

I don’t know. An (not well known) artist took his life and allegations about child abuse came up. I now have a hard time enjoying his music.

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