Why We Should “Cancel” Cancel Culture

Image courtesy of Allure

By INGRID KRISHNAN ‘22

Last spring, after beauty YouTuber Tati Westbrook released a 41 minute long video calling out James Charles for his problematic actions, my Instagram and Snapchat feeds flooded with posts cancelling Charles and supporting Westbrook. I had seen other celebrities that were cancelled by Twitter or Instagram before, but the word meant next to nothing to me. What does “cancelled” really mean? After a brief Google search, I found the Urban Dictionary definition: “a modern internet phenomenon where a person is ejected from influence or fame by questionable actions. It is caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question. It is commonly caused by an accusation, whether that accusation has merit or not. It is a direct result of the ignorance of people...communication technologies [outpace] the...available knowledge of a person.” The second part of the definition gave me enormous pause. At first, the definition did not make sense: if people are acting poorly, shouldn’t they be held accountable for their actions? Why should we question and give the benefit of the doubt to people who are clearly in the wrong? But as time passed, I came to agree with the second part of the definition.

According to CNN, cancelling people is an attempt to take away their power and minimize their importance. Cancelling is often done through a boycott or a public shaming. For reference, some celebrities that have been cancelled include: R Kelly, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, the Paul brothers, Justin Trudeau, Lori Loughlin, Kevin Hart, Rowan Blanchard, and Kat Von D. In even this short list, it is clear how cancel culture affects people differently depending on how extreme and public their problematic action was. Kevin Hart and Rowan Blanchard are an example of two people being cancelled for similar actions but facing varying consequences. According to the LA Times, when Kevin Hart announced that he would be hosting the 2018 Oscars, he quickly came under fire for some of his past homophobic tweets. After refusing to apologize, he was asked to step down from hosting the Oscars and still faces scrutiny among many for his comments and lack of apology. Similarly, in 2018, Twitter users discovered that former Disney Channel actress Rowan Blanchard had liked several biphobic tweets. Although fans confronted Blanchard about the tweets, she did not apologize or even acknowledge her error. Unlike Hart, Blanchard never faced widespread scrutiny or any real repercussions for her actions. The difference in the repercussions from their actions demonstrates the varying effects that cancel culture can have. The unfairness between Blanchard’s and Hart’s public images is a major reason why I believe cancel culture is a problem: if two people are supposedly cancelled for similar actions, why are the consequences so different? 

Another reason why I believe cancel culture does more harm than good is because it fails to take into account personal growth that a person may have experienced after their problematic actions took place. Many celebrities have been cancelled for actions, tweets or conversations that took place when they were teenagers. Although some actions should hold weight no matter when they took place, other actions can be chalked up to teenage irresponsibility. As celebrities grow, change, and develop, society should accept their apologies for actions that took place when they had less perspective and were more ignorant than they are today. Cancel culture does not allow for any of this introspection or growth. It instead restricts celebrities from changing and holds them to statements that they may no longer believe. When celebrities apologize for their actions and the internet refuses to allow them to grow from their mistakes, we as a society create a harmful environment where people are not allowed to make mistakes and continue to learn as they grow. Again, this mindset of growth applies differently depending on both the type of offensive action and at what point in life the action occurred. Some words are forgivable. Others are not.

While it may be entertaining to cancel someone and jump on a bandwagon of shame and hate, it is rarely warranted. When one becomes too wrapped up in cancel culture to gain perspective and realize that people can change given the chance, they create a toxic environment. In order to stop this cycle from continuing, we as a society need to take a step back and be slower to judge others. By slowing down and taking time to account for growth, I hope that we can work to cancel cancel culture.