Is it time to throw the #CancelCultureIsOverParty yet?
“Jeopardy!” producer Mike Richards is among the latest of the cancellable celebrities, right after Chris Harrison stole the cancel culture show on “The Bachelor” earlier this year.
Even Dr. Seuss and Eminem (sort of) have found themselves among the famous figures who were declared “over.”
Meet the celebrity “casualties” of cancel culture 2021.
The cancelation debate heated up last summer after Twitter users took to the digital platform to condemn Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling for making anti-trans comments along with denouncing singer-rapper Doja Cat’s racist chatroom past and former “Glee” star Lea Michele’s alleged mistreatment of co-stars. By July, the focus had lasered in on talk show host DeGeneres (complete with a death hoax) and “Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer’s rumored conservative boyfriend.
The hits kept coming through the fall and haven’t stopped — even for beloved kids movies. Disney+ announced that they’d be putting a filter on old classics such as “Dumbo” and “The Aristocats” over racist imagery. A sequel to “Space Jam” will notably leave out the creepily persistent Pepe Le Pew. And Millennial parents are done with Dr. Seuss books after realizing the harmful stereotypes depicted in his books.
But what does it really mean to get the #RIP treatment — and will society ever declare it to be over, too?
Cancel culture — the phenomenon of promoting the “canceling” of people, brands and even shows and movies due to what some consider to be offensive or problematic remarks or ideologies — isn’t all that new.
Dr. Jill McCorkel, a professor of sociology and criminology at Villanova University, told The Post that the roots of cancel culture have been present throughout human history. Societies have punished people for behaving outside of perceived social norms for centuries, she said, and this is just another variation.
“Cancel culture is an extension of or a contemporary evolution of a much bolder set of social processes that we can see in the form of banishment,” she said. “[They] are designed to reinforce the set of norms.”
Over the last few years, the social-media trend has gained momentum under the trendy new name — placing celebrities, companies and media alike under a microscope of political correctness.
Here’s a brief rundown of what’s been canceled lately.
Mike Richards
What is: problematic. Richards was forced to step down from his role as “Jeopardy!” host after allegations surfaced that he was sexist and had reportedly harassed female employees. “We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at ‘Jeopardy!’ it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened,” reps for the show said before announcing his exit.
Joe Rogan
The controversial podcaster has been canceled time and time again for his conservative political beliefs and offensive comments. Most recently, he was canceled for his anti-vaccination comments. On an episode of his own podcast, Rogan complained that white men are “oppressed” because his opinions are seen as offensive or politically incorrect.
Disney classics
Children under 7 will now be forbidden from watching “Dumbo,” “Peter Pan” “Swiss Family Robinson” and the “The Aristocats.” Settings on the app will prevent the movies from even showing up on the young viewers’ profiles. Disney explained its rationale behind each film’s removal on the kid-focused Stories Matter section of their website.
They cited “Dumbo’s” (1941) infamous singing crows, which “pay homage to racist minstrel shows, where white performers with blackened faces and tattered clothing imitated and ridiculed enslaved Africans on Southern plantations.”
Piers Morgan
Last month, the TV personality lost yet another on-air gig with “Good Morning Britain,” a decision that came seven years after he was originally canceled in 2014, along with his show on CNN. The controversial host confirmed that he left “GMB” because he refused to apologize for disbelieving Meghan Markle’s claims of suicidal ideation as a royal. In a letter to his fans posted on Instagram, Morgan wrote: “This is not simply an act of defiance, but a commitment to our collective futures.”
Dr. Seuss
The once irreproachable children’s book author has been the subject of racial reckoning. On March 2 — what would have been the late author and illustrator’s 117th birthday — the company that oversees Seuss’ publications announced that they were pulling licensing rights to six titles, due to racially insensitive depictions of Asian and Black characters.
These books — which include “And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “Scrambled Eggs Super!” -— “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises said in a statement to the Associated Press.
JK Rowling
She’s no stranger to controversy. The infamous author has been canceled multiple times over the years, specifically for negative comments about people identifying as transgender. Earlier this year, a Harry Potter-themed segment at a book festival was canceled due to Rowling’s insensitive remarks online, the latest in her cancel culture controversy.
Eminem
This one may be an example of cancel culture turning on itself. Gen Zers were schooled by Millennials after they attempted to cancel the rapper over his angst-filled lyrics.
The controversy kicked off in February when a “zoomer” (or Gen Z member) posted a TikTok clip condemning the rapper’s 2010 hit “Love the Way You Lie,” featuring Rihanna, for reportedly glorifying violence against women. They highlighted the verse “If she ever tries to f–king leave again I’ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.”
The hater’s on-camera diss caused 30-somethings to — in the words of an Eminem song title — “just lose it,” as many of them grew up on the 48-year-old Detroit native’s tunes.
One inspired TikTok sketch depicts an Eminem-loving millennial having a mock argument with himself as a Gen Zer, who says, “We gotta cancel Eminem.” The millennial responds, “Why?” and is then asked by his offended younger doppelgänger, “Have you heard his lyrics?”
The creator, back to playing his millennial Fireball-drinking self, responds: “Heard ’em? I was raised screaming them all through grade school.”
‘Space Jam’
The serial harasser Pepé Le Pew was canceled from “Space Jam 2.” Producers decided to cut one of Pepé‘s star scenes in the sequel, in which the character is depicted as a flirty bartender who insists on kissing a female customer (played by Greice Santo) despite her many objections.
According to Deadline, the scene also sees pro baller James take Pepé aside to explain the concept of “consent” as the flirtatious skunk admits that his longtime love, Penelope Pussycat, had filed for a restraining order against him — a troubling statement to come from a children’s cartoon.
Gina Carano
Carano, 38, who played bounty hunter Cara Dune in the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian,” was fired from the show for her controversial social media posts.
Lucasfilm made no secret of why she was canceled, ripping “her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities,” which it called “abhorrent and unacceptable.”
Carano’s most controversial message — and the one that appears to have been the final straw — came when she shared an image from Nazi Germany and compared it to today’s overheated political climate.
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children,” her post stated.
Central Park Karen
This popular request amongst the platform’s users actively encourages a person to be put under the microscope. Twitter’s users are often known for their FBI-like investigative skills — digging up past dirt, old secrets and discovering people’s identities — and are now being utilized in the resurgence of cancel culture.
Users are uncovering the identities of people expressing racist comments in viral videos, with one recent victim being Amy Cooper, 41, otherwise known as “Central Park Karen.” The video featured the white woman calling the police on a black man, Christian Cooper (no relation), 57, who requested her dog be put on a leash.
“Karen” promptly told authorities an “African-American man is threatening my life,” all whilst seemingly strangling her dog. After the video racked up millions of views, she was fired from her investment firm job, temporarily forced to surrender her dog and charged with one count of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. The viral clip also spawned new hate crimes legislation.
Celebrities are joining the cancel-culture call to action, too.
Actress-writer Skai Jackson, 18, took to Twitter last month to expose a high-school student featured in a viral video screaming racial slurs. She identified his name, prospective college and Instagram handle.
In the thread, her followers used it as an opportunity to expose other people’s offensive posts, starting a chain of ultimate Twitter investigative work in the name of canceling racists. Pop singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey, 35, experienced similar backlash after making comments about fellow female recording artists — many of them women of color.
The collective canceling of someone, even on the internet, creates a sense of solidarity, McCorkel explained, and reinforces the feeling of togetherness, that “we are a group…and we don’t tolerate that kind of behavior.”
“It reinforces, at a time of political division, a sense of shared solidarity, at least among the people who are doing the canceling,” she said. “It’s psychologically intoxicating to feel part of a group and to feel a part of something larger than yourself.”
Popular Twitter accounts like @YesYoureRacist and @RacistOTW have become the pop-culture racism watchdogs. They’ve made it their civic duty to scrutinize the actions of average people and public figures alike, shedding light on previously overlooked or unknown incidents.
Uncle Ben’s, Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth
Cancel culture, though, isn’t exclusive to celebrities. Companies and brands are under fire for racist imagery.
After facing backlash for perpetuating racist stereotypes, the 130-year-old Aunt Jemima breakfast brand is getting a makeover. Similarly, Uncle Ben’s and Mrs. Butterworth’s brands might be next.
Popular vegan recipe creator, formerly named “Thug Kitchen,” also underwent a rebrand, revealing its new name as “Bad Manners” last month. Eskimo Pies, owned by Dreyer’s, and Cream of Wheat also followed suit.
Sports teams began to jump on board, too. After years of criticism, the Washington Redskins are finally brainstorming a new team name, inspiring the Cleveland Indians to consider doing the same.
#IsOverParty members apologize
With cancel culture comes apologies for the actions that caused the cancellation in the first place.
The #IsOverParty is an ode to cancel culture, most recently used to cancel Jimmy Fallon after a video resurfaced of him in blackface imitating Chris Rock. While #JimmyFallonIsOverParty was quick to trend on Twitter, some users were quick to condemn his cancellation.
“The culture of canceling people is ridiculous. Jimmy Fallon did this 20 years ago when he was young and had to listen to his boss in order to put food on his table,” wrote one user in the thread.
The 45-year-old talk show host has since apologized, writing on Twitter that it was a “terrible decision” to wear blackface, that he is “very sorry” and thanked his fans for holding him accountable for his actions, despite how long ago it was.
McCorkel acknowledged that we are quick to cancel and not so quick to forgive or believe that people can learn from mistakes, but as someone who has extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system, she has been witness to people changing.
“I know that people are capable of rehabilitation,” she said, adding that she’s seen it happen and that people can grow if given the chance.
Twitter’s ability to dredge up old, problematic content is creating new problems for other celebrities, too. YouTubers Jenna Marbles, whose real name is Jenna Mourey, and Shane Dawson recently faced criticism for donning blackface on their channels years ago. Mourey even decided to call it quits over the incident.
Columbus Day
As Americans realize the racist history of the US, many holidays, monuments and traditions have come under fire and subsequently been “canceled.” Columbus Day — to commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America— is not exempt. Now in many states, the day is instead “Indigenous Peoples Day,” to remember the genocide of native people on the land settlers colonized. But not everyone is thrilled about the change. Those who are adamant about tradition and keeping even the ugly parts of our history see the cancellation of Columbus as a complete erasure of our country’s foundations.
Canceling “cancel culture”
This week, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter calling to do away with cancel culture altogether, denouncing the movement as “censorious” and “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.”
Many Twitter users responded to the open letter — which was signed by more than 150 public figures, including Margaret Atwood, 80, and Rowling, 54 — in disgust, arguing that bigotry, like they believe many of the signers are guilty of, is not free speech.
Eugene Gu, the CEO of CoolQuit.com with almost 500,000 followers on Twitter, responded to the letter in a tweet, saying, that while he believes in free speech, “Many of the signatories on this letter…believe in free speech for themselves and horrible consequences for those who disagree with them.” In a subsequent tweet, the 34-year-old added that racism, sexism and homophobia are not free speech, because it is discriminatory to others.
“This rigidity right now in American political discourse is problematic because you really can’t have a high-functioning democracy without people being willing to engage one another in meaningful ways to hash out their political disagreements,” she said.
She acknowledged that while it depends greatly on the issue at hand, there’s a difference between canceling a type of behavior that is collectively agreed on as “bad” — using #MeToo and condemning workplace sexual harassment, for example — and canceling one particular person without discourse.
“We have to be able to come together across those political differences and sort out what are the optimal solutions,” she said. “We can’t do that if we are dug into our respective trenches and unwilling to engage across those political divides.”
