Not everyone has been canceled the same way. Some celebrities have been affected by the backlash, while others were virtually untouched by the venomous activities. Some of these celebrities were also just normal, everyday people who became more popular and more well-known, thanks to the backlash they received. What is ironic is that many of these people—people with families, friends, careers and loved ones—were having a positive impact on the world, until they were canceled. Here is a list of some of the known canceling incidents.
Terry Crews
Terry Crews is a talented, well-known American actor. He calls for action for social causes such as mental health. and has gained a lot of popularity over the years. However, in the wake of George Floyd’s Black Lives Matter protests, Terry Crews heavily criticized the movement and how dangerous it can be in this Tweet:
If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have a family of every race, creed and ideology. We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter
— Terry crews (@terrycrews) June 30, 2020
This was around the time when the Minneapolis “peaceful protests” were raging, looting became the norm and burning down federal, state and local government-owned property was deemed “social justice.” Terry Crews obviously saw there was a morphing of the Black Lives Matter social movement from “police brutality” to “white people are the enemy.” He got canceled and thousands of people started to mock him, ridicule him and call him an Uncle Tom. In his interview with CNN, he explained the dangers of this movement and how it could split America, at a time when it needed healing. Many people now predict that Terry Crews will have fewer contracts with other show hosts, fewer TV shows, fewer movies and fewer roles in general for saying something that the majority of Americans saw as completely sound and logical.
Cops
The police department has always been a target of the cancel culture mob. When Officer Derek Chauvin placed a knee on George Floyd’s neck, possibly killing him, the cancel culture mob immediately had an easy and clear target: cops. It was not just bad or unscrupulous cops, it was all cops. Old cops, young cops, active, retired, sworn officers, civilian personnel and anyone associated with the police department. The cancel culture mob argument was that cops are the real enemy because they kill black people on the street.
Their goal was not police reform, more training, better funding, better academies, better tactics or harder tests; it was to completely cancel, defund and abolish the police. A sentiment that would have been thought to be from the mouth of a legally insane person is now a common policy debate for municipal, county or state authorities.
Unfortunately, cops continue to have one of the hardest jobs in America because of the backlash they receive. Police officers have always been concerned about their lives and their families. However, the cancel culture has heightened their fears. These officers are more acutely aware that there is a heightened risk every day they leave their home, they might never see their loved ones again, if a deranged cancel culture activist decides to end the officer’s life. As a result, many officers have retired or otherwise left their jobs as first responders because of the backlash they received, with no acknowledgement of putting their lives on the line defending our communities on a daily basis.
Robert Downey JR
Robert Downey Jr is a sensation when it comes to the world of movies. He started small and made his way up to immortalizing his name in the hall of fame as one of the best actors who ever lived. However, people questioned his “blackface” in the movie Tropic Thunder. People who have not even watched the movie wanted the actor to be canceled, yet they did not even understand the scene or plot of the movie. Robert Downey Jr., just like most actors, are not writers, producers or directors of the movies. But they are the best representation of the characters they play in the movie. Still, the mob wants to come for him and make him apologize, or risk a complete cancelation of his career.
JK Rowling
This case of cancel culture is one of the most telling and most interesting cases. JK Rowling, the writer of the prestigious Harry Potter, has been the face of the progressive party when it comes to issues such as mass immigration. However, things became very ironic when the same mob that cheered for her in years past, now turned against her for her opinions on transgender people.
Transgenders, who believe they can change their gender at will, or through surgery, harassed the writer as soon as she expressed her thoughts on Twitter. She made the obvious and clear remark that “biological sex is real.”
Rowling also supported a woman who got canceled for saying “men cannot change into women and women cannot change into men.” This woman lost her job and was harassed by a violent mob for saying these words, but JK Rowling had her back.
What is more interesting is that JK Rowling is a supporter of women’s rights, and she believes what the canceled woman believed regarding issues of transgenders: Allowing biological men into the job market, bathroom stalls, sports, and anything that is exclusive for females is harmful towards females. A totally sane argument, which is now seen as hate speech.
JK Rowling went on to pander for the LGBTQ+ community by changing facts about her own book, such as making a white character (Hermione) black, who is clearly described as white in the book. She also made other characters such as Professor Dumbledore a gay man in the story, to make peace with the mob. But the mob did not forgive and continue their intimidation to this day.
Justine Sacco
Justin Sacco was never famous until she tweeted:
“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”
This tweet was the center topic of debate long before she even got to Africa. She had been fired, and her chances of finding new jobs were diminished because no news network wanted to hire or associate with her. The ironic thing is that Justine Sacco was not famous at all on Twitter. She had no more than 200 followers, consisting of coworkers, friends, family and a few others, and she still got canceled. She became the face of the cancel culture, and an example on how one tweet can completely ruin someone’s life, regardless of its nature.
Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart is another 20-year comedian on this list who has “made it” in one of the most difficult industries. He worked hard and made a name for himself, eventually achieving his dreams of financial freedom and security. He was set to be the first black person to emcee the Oscars, if it weren’t for a joke he had made almost a decade before the event. He made a few jokes and remarks about transgender people way back in the day, but those remarks came back to haunt his dreams. He was called on the phone and notified that he will no longer have the prestigious duty of presenting the Oscars. He also received calls from promoters, advertisers and venue managers wanting to quit working with him—for a joke he had made almost a decade earlier!
The comedian explained that he was sorry; he pandered to the mob and asked for forgiveness, but it was met with even more hate. The cancel culture mob shouted that the more he apologized, and the more he brought attention to the narrative, the less they believed him.
Carson King
One of the worst cases of cancel culture has to do with the Iowa State Cyclones fan, Carson King. He was at an ESPN College Game Day event holding up a sign asking for donations for his “Busch Light supply.” This was obviously a joke, but to his surprise, people started donating a lot of money to the Venmo account that he had showed on the sign. He in fact raised nearly $3 million, but he did not spend the donations on cars, vacations, clothes or anything of that sort. He nobly donated the money to a charity that helps children in the University of Iowa Stead Children’s Hospital. One would think that everyone in the country should praise the young man for his creative marketing and good actions to help children, but the mob had a different idea. They went and dug deep into his social media accounts to find “dirt.” What they found was that he made two racial jokes back when he was a minor at the age of 16-years old. These are edgy jokes that many teenagers engage in, but King was hunted down for this, and summarily canceled. It did not matter that King was a changed person. It also did not matter that he is obviously a very noble person; what mattered was he had posted a problematic tweet—as a minor—that the cancel culture deemed offensive. The mob harassed companies and organizations that donated the money, and advertisement deals that he had secured were canceled by Venmo and Busch in fear of appearing not to be progressive enough.
Jordan Peterson
One of the most famous intellectuals became a sensation after his comments on the authoritarianism of the Toronto university rules on pronouns. The university that Jordan Peterson taught in released a document that made it illegal for people to say the wrong pronoun for a person. For instance, it would have been illegal to approach a female as “she,” if “she” identifies as male, and vice versa. Jordan Peterson spoke against this issue and incurred a lot of backlash. Thankfully though, he also gained a lot of support from people around the world for his critical thinking and advice on self-development.
He did multiple interviews and released his lectures online, which made him a target for the cancel culture mob. He also went on TV discussing issues such as feminism and transgender rights. He calmly debated people who were aggressively interviewing him, and he appeared to have won the debate thanks to his logic and reasoning. However, following this hollow victory, the mob continued to try to cancel him, one way or another. His relationship with the university deteriorated, but he managed to continue to teach. In fact, he even published his book, 12 Rules for Life, which became a bestseller. Sadly, things began to change when he had his book taken off the shelves of New Zealand libraries, and later many other progressive libraries. He even had his movie canceled from Cinema; the promoters did not want to work with him, fearing that the mob would come for them as well.
PewDiePie
Swedish-born Felix Keilberj, better known as Pew Die Pie, is the most subscribed-to YouTuber, and has published countless videos that includes bits of comedy and gaming. In one of his edgy videos, he staged a section when he hired people to write an anti-Semitic phrase on a board. He hired them because he thought it was so absurd and funny that the people would reject the offer, or come back laughing. To his surprise, two Indians on the platform did, in fact, write on a board the anti-Semitic phrase that he posted on the video. It received tons of backlash from all over the media, especially the cancel culture mob. However, the weight and support of his 100 million subscribers and his edgy humor, help him to quell the uprising.
Kathy Hopkins
Kathy Hopkins is an English media personality, columnist, social critic and business women who rose to prominence as a 2007 contestant on “The Apprentice.” She also is a columnist and internet personality who sparked a lot of debate from the progressive intellectuals by challenging their ideas. As she attempted to post videos and talks are about mass immigration, she shared her views on ways to enforce immigration laws and “fix Britain’s problems.” However, in connection with some of her talks, she criticized Black Lives Matter and other radical groups, and to that end, she got canceled and suspended from Twitter.
*****
If space would allow, the ultimate cancel culture list would literally contain millions of people, and millions of individual stories. Yet, as you read through this small sampling, you can see that people of all backgrounds—famous, unknown, male, female, highly educated, and from every walk of life—have been canceled. There is no specific and perfect Avatar or DNA of the “canceled person.” However, keep reading these blogs and you can start to understand the psychology behind the cancel culture.
To learn more about David Wallace (Former Mayor or Sugar Land) you can visit his main website: www.davidgwallace.com as well see him on the following:
Mr. Wallace was also featured in a news store in KTVN.
He has also has 2 other websites for his books besides the Shame Happens with a bio About David Wallace.