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From Will Smith to Kanye West and JK Rowling, some Hollywood celebrities were cancelled in the outgoing 2022.
Cancel culture is the idea of taking away support for an individual, their career, popularity, and/or fame because of something they’ve said or done that’s considered unacceptable. It can involve boycotting their work, calling for their dismissal from their job, or spreading negative information about them on social media.
People are often “cancelled” because they are public figures with influence over a huge audience and what they’ve done or said is alleged to have caused harm to a particular person, group of people, or community.
For instance, many of those who have been “cancelled” received public backlash following accusations of violent, sexist, racist, homophobic, or transphobic activities or comments.
There have been divergent views about the practice with some arguing that it is necessary to hold people accountable for their actions and create consequences for harmful behaviour while others argue that cancel culture can be excessive and punitive, leading to people’s ostracization or “canceling” for relatively minor offenses or for expressing unpopular opinions.
THE WHISTLER takes a look at some celebrities who appear to have fallen from grace to grass in 2022 due to being cancelled.
- Kanye West
Kanye West is unarguably the most controversial celebrity in 2022. The rapper first stirred controversies when he brought his divorce from Kim Kardashian to social media.
In October, he wore clothes bearing “White Lives Matter” which international Jewish non-governmental organization, Anti-Defamation League, categorizes as a “hate slogan” used by white supremacist groups.
In November Kanye made antisemitic remarks that drew the rage of social media. In a 20-minute rant against various individuals, he repeatedly alleged a Jewish conspiracy to suppress him.
The situation worsened in December after Kanye repeatedly praised Hitler and the Nazi party insisting that he “loves” Nazis and “likes” Hitler, and at one point blatantly declaring, “The Jewish media has made us feel like the Nazis and Hitler have never offered anything of value to the world.”
Ye later posted an image of a Nazi swastika inside of a Star of David leading to his ban by Twitter and Instagram. He also lost his deals with Vogue, Balenciaga, Gap, and Adidas.
- Will Smith
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face in front of an audience of 17 million during the Oscars award ceremony in February after a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
After the incident, Smith quit the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, meaning he can no longer vote in the Oscars. The Academy then banned him from the ceremony for 10 years.
The actor was also dropped from a number of movies, while his upcoming film with Netflix, “Fast and Loose,” was put on hold. Netflix also cancelled plans to start production on “Bright 2,” starring Will Smith.
Although Smith has since apologised and sought therapy, he is yet to find his footing back in the industry.
The actor is however set for a 2023 comeback in his new movie ‘Emancipation’.
- Amber Heard
Amber Heard’s defamation case with her ex-husband Johnny Depp caused a lot of public backlash against her.
The months-long legal battle saw Heard and Depp fight for support in the court of public opinion as well as litigate their difference in court.
On social media, support for Depp was overwhelming. Expectedly, Heard’s accounts of domestic violence at the hands of Depp were disputed and most of her fans turned on her.
At the end of the televised trial, Heard was ordered to pay more than $10m in damages to Depp. This led to fans calling for her removal in Aquaman 2 and other movies she was billed to star in.
- JK Rowling
Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, was also cancelled over a controversial tweet about the transgender community.
Rowling had condemned a New York Times op-ed referring to women as ‘people who menstruate.’
That initial tweet garnered a lot of backlashes, but the Harry Potter author did not relent and wrote about her views in more detail. “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,” she tweeted.
After the incident, several Harry Potter fans expressed their displeasure over Rowlings’ comments. Celebrities who have been associated with Harry Potter also cut ties with her.
In March, she was also drawn into a public spat with Vladimir Putin, when the Russian president came to her defense, equating Rowling being “cancelled” with the “progressive discrimination of everything connected to Russia” in the wake of his invasion of Ukraine.
“Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics. #IStandWithUkraine,” Rowling tweeted.
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