Cancel culture is the mass disagreement and withdrawal of support from a celebrity due to their actions or decisions.
Cancel culture can be traced back to Jane Fonda and early Hollywood. Since then, it has continued to evolve along with the parameters of offense.
Celebrities such as James Charles, Will Smith, Danny Masterson and Sean Combs have all been ‘canceled’, while some of them were able to come back, others weren’t.
But where exactly does the media draw the line? For instance, Jennifer Lopez repeatedly said racial slurs in a song and nothing came about, but she was canceled after her horrendous bodega order?
In January 2017, Popular youtuber PewDiePie used a racial slur in one of his videos. Almost immediately following that, Disney announced they would be cutting ties. He was dropped from the google advertising program and his Youtube Red Series was canceled.
Although PewDiePie and Lopez committed the same offense, the outcome of both situations were visibly different.
Here at Urbana High, hateful comments or speech may be floating around. These can be simple words or jokes or even text messages. Christine Jeon, class of 2026 and member of Korean Student Alliance, says
The people who make insulting comments are as much at fault as those who say nothing. In addition, some students feel that some administrators tend to punish those who stand up for themselves rather than the people who offend them.
An African American student here at Urbana, who would like to remain anonymous, says when she was in middle school, she was walking down the stairs when a boy came up behind her and asked her if she wanted to ‘pick cotton out of his hat’.
She instinctively pushed him down the stairs and it ended with them both receiving the same punishment. Rather than him being punished greater than she was.
Bias can also be found in the mockery of religious communities and groups. There is a Bible Study club here at Urbana, yet when others mention their membership, faces of cringe and disgust tend to follow. These same faces are not shown when someone mentions their membership of the Muslim Student Alliance or any other religious groups.
In addition, Christianity seems to be the ONLY religion where mocking the figures is widely accepted. Influencers Tara Yummy and Jake Webber dressed as Jesus and the devil for Halloween one year. The photos resurfaced and nobody had an issue, but in 2008, Heidi Klum had dressed up as the Hindu goddess Kali, and received intense backlash.
Cancel culture and the media affects our views of others greatly, Malak Kamel, class of 2025 from the Muslim Student Alliance says, “I think the media plays a large role in creating and promoting stereotypes. Yet on the other hand, I think it can also help you learn a lot about other people.”
A popular TikTok trend has interviewers posing the question, “What race would you not date?” to random people, the most common response is “Indian.”
More times than not, the comment section usually agrees with their response.
With the war in Palestine and Israel, the acceptance of hate on Jewish people and Muslim people has increased greatly. The Anti-Defamation League has recorded that cases of antisemitism have grown from 3,698 in 2022 to 8,873 in 2023. Anti-Muslim hate has grown 5,156 in 2022 to 8,061 in 2023.
Religion and race are touchy subjects, but all religions and people should be respected and the respect for them should be held to the same account.
Cancel Culture promotes nothing but a society who doesn’t forgive or show grace. If we do hold people accountable, we should hold everyone to the same standards.
