There are two ways to examine the exploding controversy over Ezra Miller and his upcoming $200 million Flash movie.

The first is this: In the fascist woke universe, of course, The Flash should never see the light of day. The movie should be scrapped, burned, and its ashes scattered over the Indian Ocean. Look at the precedents set in this universe… Disney blacklisted actress Gina Carano over nothing more than not being a leftist. Johnny Depp was blacklisted for five years(!) before he was vindicated in court. The Great Woody Allen has been blacklisted after two states — two! — found him innocent. Put another way, the Nazis who run Woke Hollywood have been disappearing, destroying, and annihilating people and careers for supposed sins that don’t even come close to the horrors attributed to Ezra Miller. So, of course, The Flash should never see the light of day.

The second way to look at it is this: In a just and sane universe, the very idea of attaching purity tests to art is obscene and illiberal. Let me offer up the most extreme example I can think of…

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski drugged, raped, and sodomized a 13–year-old girl. Additionally, this is a crime he never paid for. Some 50 years later, he’s still a child-raping fugitive from justice. To me, the “fugitive” part is key. As awful as Polanski’s crime was and is, once you’ve paid your debt to society, once you’ve done your time, you’ve done your time. No matter the crime, it’s not right to continue to punish someone after they’ve paid their debt.

But Polanski has not paid his debt, so if anyone’s “art” should be blacklisted and scraped, should it not be this fugitive child rapist?

No.

Once you start down this path, where does it end?

Who decides what sins justify the blacklisting of art?

Do we blacklist the art of only murderers and rapists? How about racists and adulterers? How about thieves and gang-bangers? Why not speeders and people who cheat on their taxes? Hey, how about illegal drug use and drunk driving?

There is only one standard that makes sense here, one that can be applied equally and without prejudice, and that’s that the art and artist are made separate. No one and nothing is blacklisted. Let the American people decide who they can and cannot tolerate.

You can argue that blacklisting The Flash would be unfair to the hundreds of innocent people involved in the movie’s production. That’s certainly a reasonable way to look at it, but I would still defend the art if the art in question were a painting created solely by Miller.

I know what Polanski did. I’m still watching Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby.

I know what Bill Cosby did. I’m still watching Uptown Saturday Night.

I know what Alec Baldwin’s done. I’m still watching Glengarry Glen Ross and The Hunt for Red October.

I know what O.J. Simpson did. I’m still watching The Towering Inferno.

All kinds of terrible people do and create beautiful things. The idea that multinational corporations and the Twitter Stasi will choose what does and does not cross the line for everyone else is a standard begging to be abused, personalized, and politicized. And that standard has already been abused, personalized, and politicized.

We all know why Hollywood disappeared Gina Carano over an anodyne meme, and Ezra Miller might still have a career despite a video that appears to show him choking a woman and a credible allegation of child grooming: Carano was punished for not being a leftist, and Miller’s enjoying every benefit of the doubt because his politics are correct and he is among the new protected class of sexual weirdos.

There’s no sin you’ll be held accountable for if you announce your pronouns are “they/them.”

Regardless, art should always be separate from real and perceived sins. Personally, I have zero interest in seeing The Flash. I have zero interest in enriching a freak like Ezra Miller. But that’s my choice. I also happen to have zero interest in making that choice for the rest of you.

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.