Everyone enjoys a good movie, book, or song from time to time. Entertainment can make a bad day a little bit better, or heighten the effect of an already great experience. Some look to their entertainment for insight into life, for a different way of looking at an unusual topic, or simply as a way to pass the time and cure boredom. Oftentimes, people don’t put much thought into what happens behind the scenes during the creation of their entertainment. After all, a story is a story. It’s not necessary to know anything about the creators of a story in order to enjoy its telling. There are times, however, when the activities of an artist can cast a shadow over the art. Sometimes, the behind-the-scenes’ stories can become more prevalent and, to some, more interesting than the artist’s work. This essay will examine a few instances of the artist overshadowing the art, and the impact that this has on the public reception to the work.  
In 2014, Alison Flood of theguardian.com reported that the board of the World Fantasy awards began discussing the option of changing their award trophy, a bust of writer H.P. Lovecraft, in response to petitions and complaints from authors and fans alike. The article states that the concern was raised by 2011 winner Nnedi Okorafor, a Nigerian-American author, when she discovered that the man whose face adorned her trophy was “also the author of a poem that concludes with a description of black people as ‘a beast … in semi-human figure … filled … with vice’”.  
Thousands came to her side and supported her cause, but Flood points out that there were opposing views. One such defense comes from Lovecraft expert ST Joshi, who contends that it is absurd to think that Lovecraft’s racism negates the intellectual, aesthetic, and personal virtues that he displayed throughout his life. The article indicates that his conclusion on the matter is that Okorafor should simply return the award and be done with it, since she finds it so offensive. Writer Laura Miller, a Lovecraft fan, criticizes Joshi’s statements, indicating that his stance boils down to “suck it up, or get out.” She then is quoted as saying, “Art, being human, is an expression of the whole self. This isn’t the same as accepting Lovecraft’s racism. You can acknowledge, contemplate and discuss that racism without feeling obliged to reject the work as a whole.”  
One example of an author attempting to do just that is Victor LaValle. His 2016 book, The Ballad of Black Tom, tells the tale of Charles Thomas Tester, an African-American man in 1920’s Harlem who becomes involved with a mysterious man named Robert Suydam.  In a podcast interview reprinted on npr.org, LaValle talks about The Ballad of Black Tom being a retelling of Lovecraft’s The Horror of Red Hook, only from the perspective of an African-American man who earns his living as a street hustler. During the interview, LaValle said that he wanted to respond to The Horror of Red Hook since the disdain for races other than whites was more prevalent in this story than in some of Lovecraft’s other works. As a long-time fan of Lovecraft, he felt that this would be the most effective way to pay homage to the work while commenting on the racism therein.  
