Cancel Culture DEBASHINE THANGEVELO and SHINGAI DARANGWA
THERE was a time when celebrities could get away with murder. But this was when a patriarchal society was the puppet master in the industry. Below are a few celebrities who came close to being cancelled
Mel Gibson WHEN it was recently revealed that the John Wick spin-off TV series The Continental had cast Mel Gibson as the lead, fans took to social media to express their disapproval. After all, this is the same Gibson whose rap sheet includes several documented incidents of antisemitic abuse, domestic violence, racism and sexism. “If we can’t keep Mel Gibson cancelled,” one Tweep noted, “then cancel culture 100% does not exist.” It’s been a decade since the actor was caught on tape admitting to hitting his former partner Oksana Grigorieva, who recorded him saying: “You look like a f****n b***h on heat and if you get r***d by a pack of n****s it will be your fault.” Oh, and who can forget how in 2006 an allegedly drunk Gibson launched an antisemitic verbal attack on a Jewish Los Angeles police officer who’d pulled him over, claiming “the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”. If Gibson made any of these controversial comments this year, it’d be difficult to see him ever overcoming the public backlash.
