User:Iseetheocean/Cancel culture

THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF CANCEL CULTURE:
Despite the rise of cancel culture in recent years, the damage it does to people’s careers does not seem irreparable. Many celebrities and brands have been canceled and their response has ranged anywhere from multiple apologies to doubling down on their controversial opinions. Nevertheless, social media moves on fast and no one stays canceled long enough for it to tarnish careers or reputations in the long run. In 2020, a political data analyst, Johnathan Chait, was fired after a controversial tweet that garnered a lot of negative attention on social media. He stated, “Post-MLK-assasination race riots reduced Democratic vote share in surrounding counties by 2%, which was enough to tip the 1968 election to Nixon. Non-violent protests *increase* Dem vote, mainly by encouraging warm elite discourse and media coverage.” Jonathan Chait is described as  a “specialist in public opinion whose professional mission is to help elect Democrats while moving the party leftward” by Intelligencer Magazine. His tweet was a conclusion drawn from analyzing information that is his job to look through. Still, the criticism of violent protests are usually said to be directing criticism towards the wrong thing. The actual reason why there are violent protests are often overlooked in favor of analyzing the consequences of not choosing to protest peacefully. His employers commented that he was not fired as a direct result of his tweet. Even so, many people link that tweet to his being let go some time later. Now, he has a job somewhere else where he is doing similar things. So although cancel culture had a quick effect on his life, it did not not do anything to dismantle his career.

JK Rowling is the writer of the Harry Potter series. She has also written and produced the Fantastic Beasts which is a book and movie series in the Harry Potter universe. JK Rowling has been the subject of online backlash many times. In particular, in 2020 she released a transphobic tweet that had people wanting to boycott productions from the Harry Potter Universe, including the movies and games. In her tweet, she responded to an article that used the words “people who mentrate” alluding to the fact that the word for that is “women.” She had previously posted a tweet in December of 2019 in her support of Maya Forstater, a woman who has been known for being openly transphobic. When JK Rowling was receiving the online hate and calls for cancellation, she then took to her personal website to double down on the tweets saying that she does not believe she has anything to apologize for. She states, “I mention all this only to explain that I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my books to be burned.” She is aware of what it means to be canceled online and yet the consequences haven’t stopped her from continuing to speak her mind on controversial topics. In light of all the controversy, Max is still set to release a new Harry Potter tv show in which JK Rowling will serve as the executive producer. Despite being canceled on multiple occasions, her books and series are still successful and will continue to be.

One of the most known instances of cancel culture is the Kanye West debacle. Kanye West has said and done many things resulting in him being canceled in the past. Some of which include his infamous statements of “when you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” wearing white lives matter shirts at his fashion show in Paris, and tweeting that he would go “deathcon 3 on Jewish people” seemingly misspelling defcon. When people online were calling him anti-semitic as a result, he stated that he could not be anti-semitic because Black people are also Jewish. In an interview with Chris Cuomo, he also said “There’s so many Black musicians signed to Jewish record labels and those Jewish record labels take ownership … of the culture itself… It’s like a modern day slavery, and I’m calling it out. That’s what ‘death con 3’ meant. It didn’t mean I wished any harm on my fellow Jewish people.” In the end, his anti-semitic comments resulted in him losing a billion dollar deal with Adidas along with his deals with Balenciaga, Gap, and more. He now, according to Forbes, has a networth that declined from about $2 billion to about $400 million.

In those instances, the individuals being canceled released statements that may have curved harsher language articulated in their tweets. Nonetheless, they stood firm on their original statements. Other times, when creators or brands are canceled, they issue a public apology and change behaviors to avoid being canceled again because public perception of them is vital to their success.

In 2021, during Travis Scott’s astroworld festival, there was a crowd surge that resulted in 10 people dying and 25 being hospitalized. During the incident, Travis Scott continued to perform which resulted in him getting a lot of online blame for not stopping the show and making sure people got help faster. The media and the families of the victims believed he should face some consequence for his actions. The attorney representing Treston Blount, the father of 9-year-old Ezra who lost his life during the festival stated that Travis Scott “must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy.” In response to the public outcry, Travis Scott did a number of things to relieve the pressure. He offered to pay for the funerals of all those who lost their lives. Unfortunately, that didn’t go over well. According to NBC News, the attorney of the family of John Hilgert, a 14 year old victim of the festival, said the offer was “demeaning and inappropriate given the magnitude of the tragedy.” Travis Scott has also launched a $5 million initiative that includes scholarships, mental health resources, and event safety initiatives. He called it a "catalyst for real change to heal in the aftermath.” In 2023, Scott announced his tour called “Utopia - Circus Maximus” which is his first tour since the astroworld incident. Although Travis Scott being canceled was also not permanently damaging, he had to do more to fix his public image for the media to forget which wasn’t the case for many other people.

Pepsi released a commercial starring Kendall Jenner in 2017. It showed Kendall Jenner handing a pepsi to a police officer during a protest and depicting everyone in the commercial laughing and enjoying their time together. It received social media condemnation because it was during the time of a lot of Black Lives Matter protests and the commercial seemed to oversimplify an issue that is very often a matter of life and death for many people. In response, Pepsi pulled the commercial with the CEO noting “We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.” Kendall Jenner also publicly apologized for the ad.

In some situations, celebrities get away with not apologizing meanwhile others have to issue statements and cancel products. Regardless, cancel culture has yet to be successful in completely destroying any careers as it is often feared to be able to do.