Dave Grohl had an affair and cooked for four hundred homeless people in Los Angeles. It's human to do both.

I’m a big fan of Dave Grohl. I loved Nirvana. I’ve been known to turn up the sound extremely loud on my car radio and scream along to “Lithium.”—and yes, I do know that’s not Dave singing. I also love Foo Fighters—although I don’t play them quite as loud.

What I liked about him was that he seemed like a regular guy. You can usually find photos of Grohl immersed in some community activity in whatever city Foo Fighters are playing. One time, while in Chicago for a concert, I ran into him riding on a train. He was sitting by himself, with no security or entourage. Dave was minding his own business while going for a ride. We made eye contact, but that was it.

I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. You rarely see celebrities doing anything like that. It cemented my feelings about him.

Grohl’s reputation took a huge hit a few months ago when it was announced that he was having a child with someone other than his wife of more than twenty years. Although it was only the business of the people involved, many of his fans were outraged. This made it harder for Grohl, his wife and his children to try to work through this and save their family. It became so intense that Foo Fighters were forced to cancel some concerts.

But, like most public events, time makes these things, if not go completely away, take a back seat to more current news. And that brings us to yesterday…

I was checking one of my social media feeds. There was a story about what Grohl did during the 2024 Super Bowl. Instead of watching the game, he spent the afternoon at the Woodlands Family Shelter, in Woodland Hills, California. He spent the day preparing and serving barbeque for more than four hundred homeless people. Grohl brought his smoker and it took him over sixteen hours to prepare the meal. He even slept in his car to stay on-site to ensure everything was done correctly.

This wasn’t a one-off thing. He’s done this numerous times at other shelters throughout the United States. So when you think of celebrities who give back to their community, Dave Grohl is near the top of the list.

But, that doesn’t seem to be enough for many people. I made the mistake of checking the comments at the bottom of the story. While most of them were complimentary, there were plenty of these:

“While this is a nice thing, it doesn’t make up for what he did to his family.” and “Just another rock star cheater.” and one more, “I thought he was one of the good guys. He fooled me like he did his wife and children.”

Let’s face it, life is complicated. You can do good deeds and make mistakes at the same time. You can be excellent at your job while making a mess of your personal life. People have affairs—not only rock stars and celebrities. Judging is easy—acceptance, is not as much.

I’m not quite sure what the moral of this story is. How about good people can do bad things? Or maybe mind your own business about things that aren’t your business? How about accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative? I guess all three fit but during this holiday season, I’m leaning toward the last one.

Super Bowl 2025 is two months away. Can’t wait to see what he has planned next.