What’s the Point of the Cancel Culture?
A humorous take on cancel culture, apology videos, internet mobs, and the never‑ending cycle of online outrage.
Welcome to the internet’s favorite sport: Who wants to be canceled today?
Will it be a rising celebrity? Or someone who has spent years in the industry but had that one tweet posted years ago, which doesn’t sit well with people today?
It can be anyone, and netizens are here to judge and punish.
No one is safe. Every action is under scrutiny. Every social media post is analyzed.
Because canceling one celebrity is never the goal here. It has to be someone every week.
Here’s how it begins. A celebrity steps out of the shadows to promote their work; netizens are immediately intrigued: could this celebrity be a true participant? Do they have what it takes to be canceled?
The celebrity is putting forward their best side on late-night talk shows, waving at kids, letting the paparazzi take their photos, cracking jokes at trailer launches, and showing how they gel with other castmates.
They come off as genial and talented. But then a random fan does some digging. What did the celebrity think about things ten years ago? What kind of crowd did they hang out with? Someone has an obscure video of the celebrity walking past a dog without petting it.
That could only mean one thing: they hate dogs!
Sometimes, the cancel squad is not even being unfair. A celebrity is tone-deaf to real-life problems. Their interviews are mostly about them whining about not having enough privileges. They may live in a mansion, but it’s not a palace, and that’s so unfair.
Or it will be about them achieving fame, thanks to the fans, only to then avoid fans and label them as pests. They are entitled to their private lives, they will scream, while also promoting their latest album or concert on the side.
They want people to love them, but they also don’t want to interact with them. They want fans to watch their movies and buy their albums, but also not smile back at them if they see them in the real world.
The worst is when the celebrity tries to get out of being canceled by posting an apology video.
They are dressed in plain clothes, covered top to bottom, with minimal makeup. See? They are being relatable. The background is plain too. They aren’t at a beach or a fancy restaurant or posting vacation pics. No, they are sitting in front of a plain wall, looking like they haven’t slept for days because they are so sorry for being pulled into a controversy because of an offhand remark during an interview, which they thought would make them appear cool.
A few times, this works. The internet police and the netizen squad decide to forgive them. The apology video looked sincere enough.
Other times, the celebrity’s hollow apology is obvious because they didn’t even bother to sit up and look apologetic. They were lying in bed, sans makeup, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
Canceled!
Go straight to internet jail.
They lose followers. No one comes to their concerts or movies. Memes are made. People who have never heard of the celebrity like the memes and want to know the context. The celebrity’s list of hateful fans grows. Their notoriety grows.
Their image, now tarnished, pushes them into hiding for a while. Social media accounts are deleted. Their celebrity friends no longer tag them. The memes eventually die out as the netizens have picked another target.
So…what is the point of the Cancel Culture?
There is no point. It keeps the people busy online as they think of memes to bring down the celebrity.
The celebrity never truly loses their status. In fact, sometimes they are brought more into the spotlight, which can make one wonder, was it all a PR strategy because people stopped talking about them for five minutes?
They start writing memoirs, post apology videos, and get some “celebrity friends” to show support.
Eventually, the whole incident that made them look bad in the first place seems staged.
And of course, not everyone online is waiting with a stamp to cancel people. Some like to defend the poor bullied celebrity because then it means they are proving they have a different thought than the masses.
The cancel culture is here to stay, though. We may not be in high school anymore, but some of us never outgrew our bullying tendencies. And whether or not we are heard in real life, social media has not only given us a voice, but a megaphone.
We have opinions! But they are not always favorable towards celebrities!
Celebrities are public figures who have put themselves in a position to be mocked and scrutinized. Which means, if some people have a negative opinion about them, they are expected to smile and show maturity rather than shove and abuse them.
Regular folks can say whatever they want, but a celebrity? How dare they!
At this point, cancel culture is less a movement and more a hobby for people who don’t knit.
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