Cancel Culture: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
"Cancel Culture" is a phrase that came about in the late 2010s, that describes the culture of people or actions that are behind someone being essentially ostracized because of something they have done. Usually, celebrities, content creators, or influencers are usually targeted by cancel culture.
More on the Meaning of Cancel Culture
For instance, if someone finds an old video of a famous YouTuber saying a slur and they post it on Twitter, if enough people see it, then that YouTuber can become canceled. In more significant cases of this, they can lose a part of their fanbase or lose their entire career because of this culture.
Cancel culture is seen most on the app Twitter, as people can easily retweet or add to a thread, and normally, people can post more uncensored or offensive content to expose the person. In addition, a lot of old offensive tweets that have been tweeted by celebrities or influencers have been uncovered because of Twitter which led to the person being canceled.
People can of course be canceled because of other platforms, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc. Several people have been canceled because of the culture that formed, and some of them are still creating content, while others were canceled to the point of no return.
Some people who have been canceled are Jeffree Star, Shane Dawson, Trisha Paytas, James Charles, Sienna Mae Gomez, J.K. Rowling, Armie Hammer, and many more. As revealed by this list, all types of celebrities can become canceled. You can be a famous author, actor, YouTuber, TikToker, or all of the above and still get canceled.
The most recent instance of cancel culture that is well known is the Sienna Mae Gomez and Jack Wright situation, which started on, you guessed it, Twitter. Sienna Mae Gomez is a famous TikToker, and she and Jack (who is also a TikToker) had a solely "social media relationship" in 2020 and 2021 where they acted like a couple, but they never really said that they were dating.
Past TikToks of Jack and Sienna Mae
According to an insider.com article, a friend of Jack Wright tweeted on May 30th, 2021 about how he has watched Sienna sexually assault Jack numerous times. Although the allegation started on Twitter, the drama quickly moved to TikTok as well, since that was Sienna's main social media platform. Soon, a video was released that went viral on TikTok of Sienna touching and kissing Jack while he was unconscious.
This caused everyone to bash Sienna even more online, and then she came out with a very long video stating that the claims are false and that Jack led her on by "kissing and cuddling with her" while filming. After this, both parties stopped talking about the situation, and both of them continued to post like normal. Sienna still got hate, but it was not to the point where she had to stop posting on her social media.
Suddenly, four days after Sienna's 18th birthday on January 20th, 2022, Jack posted a youtube video that described the entire situation.
Jack Wright's Video "what sienna mae did to me"
It was a very emotional video that was hard to watch. He put in as much detail as he could, and he explained that he was forced to come out as a sexual assault victim, which was very hard for him, especially as a male. After the video came out, Sienna posted an essay of sorts on her personal website that vaguely explained the situation. The essay was nowhere to be found days later.
Ever since she posted the essay, no one has heard from her since. She has not posted on any social media, and her comments are turned off on all of her accounts. Sienna's situation is much more serious since it is a legal issue, and so the consequences of her "cancel" have been extreme. It would be very hard for her to come back to her job on social media like some who have been canceled have been able to do.
Again, this all happened because of a single tweet. Jack Wright wanted to handle the situation privately, but one of his friends took matters into his own hands, and soon cancel culture took over and did the rest. After the first allegation, people found evidence and were constantly talking about it. Sienna is still considered canceled and no one knows when the world will hear from her again.
As shown in this story, "cancel culture" can expose bad people and cause people to stop admiring them, but it can also expose victims that are not ready to tell their stories yet.
Although there are pros and cons within cancel culture, people now naturally involve themselves in this culture without even realizing it. Cancel culture has been around for so long now that I find myself saying "Oh (blank)? Aren't they canceled?" Before we knew it, cancel culture became a part of our vocabulary and everyday lives, and now that people on social media are aware of their potential power, this culture is not going anywhere.
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