AITJ for Popularising My Deceased Colleague's Creative Works?
I (30+M) and my songwriting partner (also 30+M, let's call him "H") chased our musical dreams together for years. We were just about to make it big when he suddenly decided "actually nah f**k this, I miss my wife and kid" and bailed. Long story short, he passed away under some unknown circumstances. Real sad stuff.
So y'know, to honour his legacy, I went on to perform our songs myself (*technically his songs, but I helped with brainstorming) and became one of the most beloved celebrities of all time in my region. Even H's great-grandkid idolised me and said I was the one who inspired him to pursue music despite his family's conservative beliefs.
But literally all hell broke loose when the aforementioned grandkid decided to sneak into one of my holiday events, slipped 'n fell into a pool, then decided to thank me for saving his life by accusing me of a bunch of crimes because of some movie I was in. Wtf?! I tried to smooth things over with some good ol' damage control at my following concert, but now people are calling me "manipulative", "a murderer", "narcissistic liar"... all sorts of foul, cruel things which I feel are a bit uncalled for.
Without me, H's works wouldn't have been recognised. They say plagiarism, I say homage. Think folks might be ignoring the bigger picture here. AITJ??