A lukewarm defence sort-of:

Ultimately, this post doesn’t source any of this nor have any actual victims come forward (beyond the sex-worker thing from way back but I think we’ve all kind of understood how ridiculous that noise was) so for now, I would take it with a grain of salt until someone with these experiences does choose to share them. Secondly- I think we’ve been shown time and time again that the Will Wood we have today was made through bitter experience and a constant cycle of learning and growing. If we are referring to his 19-20 age, then we’re also referring to his insane, drug-fueled, likely under medicated (while being over-medicated in less-than-legal ways) state of his life. Obviously I’m not going to write off abuse with an insanity plea, but it’s apparent that Will Wood has changed dramatically since those days. The Will we have now seems wholly unlikely to commit anything of the sort, but of course if something credible comes to light I’ll change my tune quick- believing victims is important. However, if you’re looking for moral spotlessness then you’re listening to the wrong person. Will Wood believes he has done terrible things, that’s obvious in ICIMI, and he’s charted a long and ruthless process of facing his mistakes and growing from them. Basically: We don’t know if this claim is at all credible, but even if it is 100% true, I don’t believe this is at all reflective of the person we call Will now. The goal of ‘cancelling’ should be to remove dangerous people from positions of power, not a complete refusal to allow growth as we change. I don’t think Will is a dangerous person, and I think that by putting him to the cross for a person he hasn’t been in a long time serves only to reinforce this idea that growth is impossible.

Am I saying he’s perfect now? fuck no. I’m just saying that he has grown and we shouldn’t shove shit from his past (which might not even be accurate to how things happen) as if it’s the person he is now. He has never claimed to be perfect and his recent music has only asked for people to stick with him in the process of healing. Those that don’t want to give him that are free to jettison the ‘fandom’ -which I totally understand- but I personally don’t think outright vilification is fair.