“Have you heard about what [insert controversial public figure] did?” is a phrase I hear far too often. 

With the increased spread of social media such as Youtube and TikTok and easy access to technology, literally anyone can become famous. While this can be awesome, it can also be extremely dangerous. This access makes it incredibly easy to put bad people in the hot seat of culture. And only after they are famous do we discover the terribleness that lies beneath. 

Cancel culture is defined as “the practice or tendency in engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting societal pressure.” When a public figure says something that doesn’t align with the public’s views, cancel culture finds its way to the crime scene. 

But the cancel culture we know today is actually a result of misappropriation. Originally used on a subsection of Twitter primarily used by queer people of color to call out public figures, it has now turned into a “form of activism,” according to professor and journalist Meredith Clark. Its original purpose has been completely thwarted by social media. 

However, some people praise cancel culture for giving marginalized communities the opportunity to stand up for themselves, believing it to be a way of learning from our mistakes. It can be seen as not only beneficial to the one “canceled” but also makes those in the public eye aware of these societally-rejected transgressions. 

But this is not what cancel culture is. This is call-out culture. 

Call-out culture is focused on progress, growing from mistakes, and being held accountable, whereas cancel culture aims for removal without redemption. According to Vice, “canceling someone is less like hitting backspace and deleting their name from the page and more like striking through the name and continuing to write about it alongside other people.” 

However, even with this attempt at “striking out” their name, there are ways to move past a cancellation. Celebrities often gain back our favor because of their talent or by turning the situation into something funny. For this reason, people often excuse their actions, making it difficult to truly refer to a figure as “canceled” when celebrities are not being held accountable. 

For example, after a series of homophobic tweets resurfaced, Kevin Hart was denied the opportunity to host the 2019 Oscars. A video also surfaced later of him cheating on his wife. But, no, we still love Kevin Hart because he’s so funny! 

Will Smith was canceled, briefly, for slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars in 2022, completely disrupting the ceremony. This has since become a meme. 

Logan Paul showed a dead body on camera in a vlog, and now people laugh about it. 

“Cancellations” often become jokes thanks to social media like TikTok, Instagram, and X jumping on the latest drama and turning it into content. 

One of the most outrageous examples of this is Colleen Ballinger’s “Toxic Gossip Train.” After being accused of grooming several of her young fans, she made an “apology” video, and because her PR team said she couldn’t talk about the situation, she decided to sing. When this video came out, clips from the video surfaced around social media making fun of the situation. Now, it is a reaction image on Twitter. 

Because we live in a world run by technology, there are new digital aspects to take into consideration, especially concerning our reputations. Having a social media account means curating an image. The things we post on our accounts are a reflection of us—not who we actually are. 

When someone is canceled it is often not for the content they are putting out for their fans but instead what goes on behind the scenes in their life. It’s text messages, decades-old Tweets, or videos recorded without their consent. Only through insider sources can we see the celebrity for who they actually are rather than the image they put out. 

In a recent cancellation, Ava “Kris” Tyson from the Mr. Beast YouTube channel was canceled for sending inappropriately sexual messages to her coworkers years ago, abusing her position and power at work. Prolific musician and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs has been freshly canceled despite having allegations against him for years. Both allegations against Tyson and Combs were pushed aside, and when they were canceled it brought an onslaught of memes. 

The internet, it seems, does not understand the seriousness of what being canceled should mean. Using humor to cope is a questionable enough method, but making appalling situations—particularly about sexual abuse and assault—funny completely negates what cancel culture intended to do. 

Canceling celebrities and holding them accountable for their actions, regardless of how booming their careers are, is something we need to be more committed to. Why criticize them if not to invoke a punishment? 

It is unfortunate that most of these cancellations end up being funny rather than serious. A joke, it seems, to everyone but those affected.