Don’t get me wrong: I love witnessing a bit of public condemnation online like the rest of us. I mean, celebrities can feel like an easy target for faceless keyboards on the internet. They are rich and powerful, so, of course, words can only hurt them so much when they’re wiping their tears with blue-faced bills. What harm will a small hate comment do when they have millions upon millions of people who will tell them how amazing they are tenfold? However, there is a point where you scroll on Twitter (sorry, “X”) and begin to realize that some people may be enjoying the echo chamber too much. They forget that although celebrities are in the public eye, they are also people with flaws and a personal life. And that’s when we see celebs trending with hashtags after their name — canceled for some silly reasons.
Let’s start by clarifying: it is almost impossible to ever truly cancel someone already rich and powerful. Let’s take the evil lesbian queen of hearts herself, Ellen Degeneres, as an example. She put her employees through the wringer and even acted abrasive towards other stars who visited her talk show.
While her actions were slightly unethical and mean, Ellen didn’t do anything catastrophically wrong. Her show isn’t on the air anymore, and she’s supposedly “canceled,” but her money runs long and deep, and so does her influence and business savvy. Instead of being the face of her own show, she’s now just a major Hollywood producer. And this situation is exactly what I mean when I say we can never truly cancel rich and powerful people like celebrities. When publicly shunned, they just run into the shadows, becoming angel investors and television producers and writers, still able to make tons of money right under our noses — small white titles rolling during unwatched credits. You have to realize that even though these people have the money and influence we all wished we had to some degree, celebs are still just cogs in the system, too. When your name holds weight, canceled or not, people with even more money and authority want to profit off of you regardless.
I often hear the argument, “celebrities are public figures and need to be held accountable for the bad things they do.” We have to ask ourselves how worth it is to “hold them accountable.” I mean, Kanye came out as a full-blown Nick Fuentes-loving anti-semite and still got his deal back with Adidas.
Of course, there are instances where cancel culture has been effective. Look at DaBaby selling concert tickets buy-one-get-one at Cheesecake Factory and even they didn’t want the discounted tickets if it meant seeing DaBaby rap on stage. But when we are trying to run these stars off the internet or off of television for reasons like being a mean boyfriend or, cheating or being rude to a waiter, there collectively needs to be a bit of reflection done.
The fact that James Corden went from being one of America’s favorite late-night show hosts to being one of the most hated comedians on network TV is risible, to say the least. He saw a major decline in popularity once people online began exposing him for his rude behavior, claiming the fame went to his head. As time passed, people began to realize that there was a pattern with Corden’s rudeness to restaurant servers and ignoring fans wanting pictures. Eventually, an anonymous CBS insider claimed The Late Late Show with James Corden was no longer profitable, and they packed up shop. Corden, of course, said it was because he wanted to raise his children in London and was set on leaving the United States. But there’s an undeniable correlation between his “canceling” online and the decrease in viewership of the show. Do I like James Corden personally? No, no, I do not. However, I can still recognize that he’s just a man with a talent (I know that’s a questionable statement for some), doing his job and getting paid for it. He also just so happens to be a huge jerk.
The newest trend within online cancel culture has been canceling people for being terrible partners. Whether they cheated on their partner or had toxic tendencies, people are ready to delete their fan accounts and take down their fancam edits. Of course, there is a very tight line to walk with this aspect of stars getting canceled because there are plenty of times that the cancellation is valid because of a person’s abusive behavior. But you can’t deny that people hating Ariana Grande for allegedly cheating on her husband with the guy who played Spongebob on Broadway and not being a “girl’s girl” is a bit ridiculous. Or even people hating Adam Levine for not only being a cheater but also being super cringe. And honestly, I am pro-canceling anyone who says, “that body of yours is absurd,” in any other context than Wattpad fanfic that’s meant to be read alone at 3:00 a.m. But does it not feel reductive? I am so here for a good tea spill session, especially when it comes to rich people. At what point do we sit back and realize that this is all kind of silly?
I think people should stop putting these celebrities on a pedestal. You expect them to be good people — why? Because they can sing or dance or tell a good joke? We have to take into account that most of these people have grown up with privilege and opportunities their whole life. It’s like they’re wrapped in layers and layers and layers of bubble wrap from the moment they are born. They’ve rarely, if ever, been held accountable in real life for their actions and feel the world is theirs to dominate, not cohabitate in. Many of these stars didn’t have to make their way in the industry climbing upward; instead, just strafing sideways. The care they give about a girlfriend, intern or fan is so minuscule, and honestly, no amount of TikTok exposes or hate Tweets will ever change their mindset.
Also, I believe there is a vast difference between someone who’s a tool behind closed doors and someone who platforms that kind of behavior. They are people just like us, and we are all terrible and toxic and mean. That doesn’t mean we should all be unemployed and canceled for not being always peachy keen.
Ultimately, these instances are signs of the public becoming more and more disillusioned with our favorites. We’re realizing how money and fame can poison a person’s integrity and personality. The next step is to stop feeling so entitled to these people’s lives because, in the grand scheme of things, they will still get wealthier, and you’re just going to get grouchier and more jaded from judging strangers on the internet all day.