Hannah Riley
Cancel culture is everywhere these days. People are quick to say that someone did something that was not okay and they no longer want to talk about them or see their content. That’s okay! We all have different morals. Some might even dare to call it ‘Consequence Culture.’
People didn’t used to be able to expose someone for horrible things without being put on the chopping block themselves. That still happens sometimes, but many people who were once cancelled years ago was because they tried to speak out about injustices by people above them. The system is flawed, but holding people accountable is important.
Some celebrities definitely were cancelled a little too hastily and before all the facts came out, leaving fans upset and confused. Someone on Reddit asked “Which celebrity got cancelled and you genuinely felt bad for them?” to bring justice to the celebrities who didn’t deserve the boot. Here are the best responses:
1. Brendan Fraser
“Brendan Fraser got blacklisted after being molested by a higher up in the movie industry. His wife divorced him, taking his money too.
After all the joy that man has brought us, he got the short sh*t covered side of the stick.”
2. PeeWee Herman
“Paul Reubens aka PeeWee Herman.
He had a reputation of being kind of a stuck up asshole when the PeeWee character shot to fame, but not really any better or worse than other famous folks. PeeWee got “cancelled” because he was arrested for public indecency.
He was caught masturbating in an adult theater. Aside from the undercover cop who caught him, he was alone, and it was a normal adult p*rnography film. But the industry and media acted like he’d been caught with child p*rn or had r*ped someone.
He’s made a bit of a comeback recently though. I think people finally realized that in the grand scheme of “s*x crimes”, jerking it by yourself in a p*rn theater is nothing at all.
I saw his PeeWee revival on Broadway several years ago and enjoyed it, and I’ve seen him on a lot of the celebrity game shows on TV recently.”
3. Britney Spears
“Britney Spears when she shaved her head and all that.
I’m no fan of hers but she just seemed like someone who cracked under all the pressure and lost her sh*t. Craig Ferguson did an absolutely amazing job talking about that and relating it to his own life.
Major respect to him for that.”
4. The Chicks (formally The Dixie Chicks)
“The Dixie Chicks got their career ended and death threats for saying they didn’t support the war in Iraq.”
5. Megan Fox
“Megan Fox.
She called out Michael Bay on his s*xist sh*t that’s clear in all his movies but what really got her “cancelled” was that she called him a Nazi.”
6. Janet Jackson
“Janet Jackson after “Nipplegate.”
I was a kid when it happened so I had no awareness of it but I don’t get how everyone blamed her.
Is there any reason she was at fault instead of Justin Timberlake other than s*xism?”
7. Sinead O’Connor
“I’d have to say Sinead O’Connor.
She was absolutely trashed by the media. Written off as a complete nutcase and ruthlessly mocked. All because a bunch of pearl-clutching fools refused to believe the increasingly obvious realities of the Church and decided that the Pope was above criticism.
She was entirely vindicated in the subsequent years (actually, the truth was far worse than even the Church’s worst critics could have imagined), but the legacy of that witch-hunt lives on.
Did SNL, Frank Sinatra, or any of the other f*ckers who were involved ever apologize to her?”
8. James Gunn
“I was pretty upset for James Gunn when he got fired from Marvel for things he had said over 10 years ago
But obviously fan outrage over that managed to make Disney realize how stupid their decision was.”
9. Lisa Bonet
“Lisa Bonet.
Bill Cosby put a scarlet letter on her after the movie Angel Heart. The convicted rapist thought she “sullied” the image of “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World” and this affected her career going forward.
Not saying she was an Oscar contender, but I remember being upset about how mysogynistic the whole thing was”
10. Al Franken
“Al Franken.
He was both my Senator and my favorite politician.
He would have made a great president.”
11. Aziz Anzari
“Aziz Ansari definitely didn’t deserve the public shaming he received for what amounted to an awkward, bad date.”
