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We live and we learn, right? Well, we used to at least. Now, if you exist within the accessible
realm of social media, you’re at risk of getting cancelled. It always follows the same pattern: unnamed celebrity says or does something offensive and within minutes they are trending on Twitter with #unnamedisover or #cancelunnamed. The trend gained speed over the last few years with countless public figures and influencers ending up with their names blasted all over social media (and not in a good way). From Kanye West to Gina Rodriguez to even Tik Tok stars like Emma Lu, celebrities get so-called “cancelled” by the Internet. The problem is that the spectrum of qualification to get cancelled is extremely broad. It could be anything from a remark taken out of context to deeper issues like sexual assault and racism. Cancel culture is a picky eater though, where some celebrities somehow obtain a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, while others will spend the rest of their career posting paragraph-long apologies on their Instagram story. It’s the perfect example of bandwagon appeal. People are quick to join the #unnamedisoverparty, where admission is free as long as you have quick fingers and the Twitter app. It’s a party the cops aren’t going to crash, because it’s the cops of media morality that is running it. It’s difficult to navigate which celebrity apologies are sincere, and even if they are, the Internet doesn’t seem to forgive or forget. Certainly there are actions that deserve backlash and serious consequences, but does a bunch of strangers cyberbullying a celebrity online really make anything better? Eventually we will all end up getting cancelled, and the process will come full circle. So I’ll just get ahead of the game and say I accidentally stepped on a bug today and I am sorry.
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