Cancelling Cancel Culture
By: Lauren Wozniak Layout Designer
“Cancel culture” is defined by Dictionary.com as “the popular practice of withdrawing support for public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.” It seems like something that has been going on for ages but it has only become a thing in the past few years. The start of cancel culture coincides with the start of the #MeToo movement back in 2017, as people started holding public figures more accountable for their actions, according to MerriamWebster. People like Bill Cosby and Louis C.K. were being “canceled” by social media users everywhere. As time has gone on, cancel culture has led to anything any public figure has done wrong, no matter how long ago, being resurfaced. The movement has even gone beyond social media, as people are fired from their jobs from their past mistakes. An example of this is James Gunn, who tweeted offensive jokes over nine years ago, according to highonfilms.com. The posts were dug up by two conservatives who were hurt by Gunn’s criticism of Donald Trump. Gunn apologized for these tweets and expressed that he had changed but it did not help him. The internet “canceled” him and Disney fired him from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” Gunn wrote and directed the previous two films in the franchise, both of which he was hired for after he had already tweeted the offensive posts. Since this incident, Gunn has been hired back to write the third installment.
"...it has turned into a meaningless way to call people out for any mistake made..."
Not only have people been wrongfully canceled but people have also been rightfully canceled. The effect, however, does not last long. Take Logan Paul, for example. On December 31st, 2017, he put out a very jarring and inappropriate video in a Japanese forest known for its high suicide rate, according to VICE News. The video was taken down on January 1st, 2018. After Paul released an apology video and YouTube temporarily disabled his monetization (which is how YouTubers make money on their videos), the internet canceled him. They celebrated “the end of his career” using #LoganPaulIsOverParty. Paul continued to make money on other social media sites, however, and his monetization on YouTube was later reinstated. Over two and a half years after Logan Paul has been “canceled,” he is still thriving on YouTube. According to YouTube, Logan Paul’s channel has 22.5 million subscribers and his most recent video has over four million views as of October 16th, 2020. When asked if he thought cancel culture was effective or not, USF senior Caleb Campbell said, “There's a reason you are innocent until proven guilty. Sometimes people cancel others before there is solid evidence that what is claimed is actually true. It seems like it’s just mob mentality with a cool hashtag.” Cancel culture started as a way to seriously call out the extreme wrongdoings of public figures, specifically in terms of sexual assault. This was good, as it held people accountable for their hurtful wrongdoings. Now it has turned into a meaningless way to call people out for any mistake made, even if they have grown since the incident. Even when people do horrible things or do not grow from the past, the “cancel” only lasts for a bit of time. The problem is that the internet is so big and it is hard to get so many people on board. Even then, it is difficult to completely ruin someone’s career because nowadays there are so many channels of income for celebrities. The canceling becomes ineffective pretty quickly as time goes on and new issues arise elsewhere.
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