The Truth and Toxicity of Cancel Culture
November 9, 2020
We’ve all heard of the term cancel culture and some of us may have even participated in “cancelling” a celebrity, but what really is cancel culture? According to Dictionary.com, “Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (cancelling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.” The social media app Twitter is where the majority of cancel culture occurs. However, many news outlets that cover celebrity and entertainment news also contribute to the spread of cancel culture by making segments or headlines about whoever may be getting cancelled. In many cases, someone or something will get cancelled for being racist or homophobic, but in other cases, they may get cancelled for sexual harassment or political beliefs. Some of the more recent celebrities who have been cancelled are well-known influencers on the app TikTok. Bryce Hall, Blake Gray, and Larri Merritt have all been called out for hosting and/or attending multiple large events in the midst of a pandemic that also lack social distancing and proper mask-wearing. Though some of them have apologized for their actions, they still continue to attend large group gatherings, leading to many fans cancelling the influencers once again.
When a celebrity is cancelled, people expect them to speak up and apologize for what happened, but even when the celebrity does apologize, there are still fans and other users who don’t accept the apology because they believe it’s insincere. The whole idea of cancel culture is toxic and it’s very likely that this is where the majority of online toxicity comes from. Fan bases all over Twitter will start hashtags such as “#(insert name of celebrity)isoverparty” and “#cancel(insert name of celebrity)” which typically reach the trending page for people all over the world to see. In today’s world, cancel culture is so powerful on Twitter that if one person had made up a situation and promoted their hashtag enough, many people who saw the original tweet would contribute to the spread of the hashtag. An article from the New York Post says, “Twitter’s users are often known for their FBI-like investigative skills — digging up past dirt, old secrets and discovering people’s identities — and are now being utilized in the resurgence of cancel culture.” However, since there are users who have these investigative skills, many times where a situation is made up, they will debunk it and attempt to spread the word.
Although some situations are controlled, celebrities may still have a harder time growing or making sales after being cancelled for their actions, and management doesn’t always help in these situations. In some cases, management will tell their clients to not interact with anything being said on Twitter, but there are also times when management tells celebrities to not say anything at all, not even an apology. However, celebrities and influencers aren’t the only ones affected by cancel culture. Friendships and relationships can be ruined too depending on which side you take on a certain situation or topic. If one person thinks someone deserves to be cancelled but their friend disagrees, then fighting might occur which could lead to not talking to each other anymore. Overall, I feel it’s necessary that we cancel cancel culture because it brings so much unnecessary toxicity to social media in addition to it being very problematic. The next time you hear about a celebrity being cancelled, ask yourself why this is being covered over more important world issues?
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