The screenshot is a post by a friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, from several years ago. It's horribly relevant again, for obvious reasons.
I'd prefer to know, on the whole. Particularly when the artist in question is still alive: I may (or may not) still be able to enjoy their art that I already have, but I want to know whose pockets to avoid lining. Once they're dead, "separate the art from the artist" becomes a lot easier for me.
Of course I'd far rather there were nothing *to* know. I wish with all my heart that Edgar Rice #Burroughs and HP #Lovecraft were not raging racists, that Marion Zimmer #Bradley were not at the very least an enabler of child molestation and perhaps† a molester herself, that Joss #Whedon were a feminist in deed as well as word, that JK #Rowling believed the messages about equality and inclusion she gave a whole generation of children and their parents, that Neil #Gaiman were a kind and decent person who created mythologies to tell thoughtful stories about the human condition. But since they are what they are and were what they were, that's not an option.
There are writers I still regard as role models *as writers* even if I don't care for them much as people. Not monsters, for the most part, just garden-variety jerks. The way they put words together speaks to me, as I want my words to speak to my readers. I'm not in a hurry to give up what they've taught me by example.
Still. I don't have a whole lot of money to spend, and I'd rather that what I do have go to people I don't despise. Knowing is almost always better.
I try very hard to avoid engaging in hero worship and putting people on pedestals. I know too many stories of great artists who were crappy people.
I think you can appreciate a work of art and learn from it, regardless of whether the life of the person who created it stands up to their own image (or implied values).
But it's an emotional trap to transfer that admiration from the work to the person -- a person you don't know, who is NOT your friend.
†There are reasons to doubt the very worst of the accusations against #MZB, but what we know is true is bad enough.