There will probably never be another Naked Gun movie. It isn’t because Leslie Nielsen is dead or because O.J. Simpson is too busy.
Even if he weren’t behind bars, I’m guessing we wouldn’t be getting a sequel to Ghost Dad from Bill Cosby.
After 2009, Phil Spector was never going to produce another record, even if he hadn’t been convicted. It wasn’t because his work is no good.
Harvey Weinstein has produced his last film and won his last Oscar.
The Dixie Chicks are now just The Chicks. I guess the death threats have stopped, since they’re able to show their faces in public now. It takes a long time for those “woke” right wingers to forgive you for saying you’re ashamed you and George W. are both from Texas.
I’ve always appreciated Anita Sarkeesian’s feminist commentary on video games and film. Is she able to give speeches again, or are the bomb threats and rape threats and death threats continuing? I’m glad she hasn’t backed down. It would be sad if right-wing Twitter canceled her.
You ever talk to a Vietnam veteran about Jane Fonda? Whew! I have. “Traitor” and “Aid and Comfort to the Enemy” were the words I remember. I’ve never seen such a desire to have someone canceled, like literally canceled from the planet Earth.
I’m disappointed I’ll never see Peewee Herman have another children’s show. Exposing yourself in an adult theatre isn’t my chosen vice, but children sure found him entertaining. (The third movie was better than Big Top Peewee, for sure. Good to have you back!) Eddie Murphy still makes children’s movies, too. Kobe Bryant won an Academy Award for his animated film. Go figure.
I saw a Kevin Sorbo movie in theaters not so long ago… my bad birthday movie in 2014, if I’m not mistaken. For some reason, Kirk Cameron is still making movies, and some people must still be watching them. It’s good to see Tim Allen still going strong. Who thought Mel Gibson would be back? Eastwood still does decent work, when he’s not talking to an empty chair.
It’s too bad that Roseanne and Gina Carano couldn’t stay off social media or didn’t hire a publicist to handle their social media for them. It’s a shame they didn’t listen to their employer when they were told to tone it down.
Where’s Colin Kaepernick playing football these days? I can’t believe the way that a few angry tweets going after someone for their political beliefs can just ruin someone’s career. It’s that cancel culture social media mob. That’s what it is.
I heard Morrissey on the radio yesterday. I’ve heard Ted Nugent and Johnny Rotten this week. I never stopped hearing Michael Jackson… or Chuck Berry… or David Bowie. I’ve heard Spector records on the radio, too. I’d imagine the hip-hop stations are still playing Kanye and R. Kelly, but I wouldn’t know about that.
I remember, back in the day, a conservative neighbor telling me he just couldn’t bring himself to go see Meet the Fockers. I guess that Robert de Niro just isn’t a good actor… no, it’s definitely not that. It must have been something Barbara Streisand said. On the other hand, I’ve seen all of The Expendables films.
When COVID’s over and the comedy clubs re-open, do you suppose there will be a long line of conservatives lining up to see Kathy Griffin? Are they looking forward to the new Alec Baldwin movies, now that he’s probably done playing Trump on SNL? Probably not, but it’s not because he’s a bad actor. As they said in Team America: World Police, “You can’t out-act Alec Baldwin!” (It seems Team America survived canceling. That one’s actually a little odd.)
I don’t pleasure myself in front of my co-workers. If I did, I wouldn’t expect to be in my career very long. I’m sure I’d be fired, and, if I weren’t, I’m sure nobody would want to work with me. I’m not sure why Louis C.K. thought his results would be different. I’m glad they weren’t.
I remember evangelicals holding Harry Potter book burning parties in church parking lots, and now J.K. Rowling is in hot water with a different crowd.
Don’t get me started on Joss Whedon…
I’m trying to be a little glib here, and these issues are emotional charged and complex. I had an Edward Scissorhands poster in my bedroom for years with the tagline “The story of an uncommonly gentle man.” Unfortunately, Johnny Depp is not that. When you sue for defamation of character for being called a “wifebeater,” and there is a finding of fact that the term is precisely what a reasonable person would use to describe you, that it is “substantially true,” you are certainly not an uncommonly gentle man. Am I going to stop watching Depp-Burton movies? Never. They are a part of who I am in ways that would take years for me to unpack. Am I itching to go out and see a brand new Johnny Depp movie? That question is a lot harder. I’d have to think about it. I used to see every new Depp movie, and there are several now I just haven’t taken the time to seek out. So, given that even the biggest fans of his work are dubious, if you’re a movie studio looking to maximize profits, I’d imagine you’d have to think long and hard about casting him.
Since I’m being a little confessional here, I’m sad to say, I love the movies of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski. Woody Allen has completed filming at least one movie. It’s sitting in the can, but I suspect will never be distributed someplace I’d be able to see it. I also suspect that Roman Polanski will never work in Hollywood again. Still, I think I’ll keep my copies of Annie Hall and Rosemary’s Baby. The two of them aren’t good men, but those are good movies. I could try to condemn or defend the men here (or at least their work), but that’s the not point. The point is that the market has decided the fate of their careers, even if the justice system didn’t. Distribution companies decide which films they want to market. I’d imagine that Allen and Polanski films are a tough sell with the art house cinema crowd who would be the target demographic. With little profit to be made and quite a lot of risk, there’s no incentive. It’s not like they can force you to go watch Woody Allen.
That’s doubly true for The Mandalorian. Yes, there’s a group of people who called for Carano’s ouster, and you might think that they’ve overreacted. That group is probably smaller than you’d think. On the other hand, with Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian, and Wonder Woman 1984 to his credit, Pedro Pascal is a star on the rise. He has a trans sister and is Chilean-American. He’s under no obligation to work with Carano or anyone else he finds offensive. I don’t know if he’s said anything publicly about the situation, and I don’t really care. If he walks, Disney’s got a much bigger problem. That show depends upon quality guest stars and co-stars: Mark Hamill, Carl Weathers, Nick Nolte, Bryce Dallas Howard, Tracey Ullman, Werner Herzog… If that stream dries up, again, they’ve got a bigger problem than a handful of angry people on Twitter. So, if you’re Disney and looking to maintain the quality of your series and maximize profits, you warn her about the stuff she’s posting. If she doesn’t stop, you cut her loose.
Are there “cancel culture” attacks that go too far? Sure, but they tend not to work. I doubt that Glenfiddich even noticed that Trump went after them and called for his supporters to organize a boycott when a Scottish farmer refused to sell his property to Trump for a golf course. If the attack is stupid, it tends to gain no traction. When I see someone riding around on a Harley, should I assume they’re liberal? That canceling didn’t seem to work either. You might respond by pointing out that Carano’s sins weren’t “that” bad, and you might be right. Neither, however, was her punishment. She lost one acting gig. Like I said, Sorbo and Cameron are still working, and she will be too. Nerd culture has a strong right-wing contingent (e.g., Sarkeesian’s experience during Gamergate mentioned above). Carano’ll be able to sell autographed photos of herself at fan conventions for the rest of her life. The flip side of that is that I believe the attacks on Kaepernick were at least as petty. He’s not playing football, but he’s doing just fine. When you’re going to complain about someone getting canceled, I think it’s important to take a deep breath and keep things in perspective.
As several examples above illustrate, you can also come back from cancelation. I love John Lennon’s work. Like Depp, he was a wifebeater. He sang about it openly. From Rubber Soul’s “Run for Your Life”: “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man.” From Sgt. Pepper’s “Getting Better”: “I used to be cruel to my woman. I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved.” From “Jealous Guy”: “I began to lose control. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry that I made you cry… I’m just a jealous guy.” In at least one aspect of his life, Lennon was not a good person. However, he was ashamed of it. He sought counseling for it. He denounced his past behaviors. He spent years working for women’s rights and to protect other women from the type of behavior he perpetrated. It doesn’t mean we should just ignore what he did and pretend it didn’t happen. He wouldn’t want that anyway. It does make it, though, so I can listen to the Beatles without a feeling of guilt. If Depp wanted to work his way back, it would take work, but he could do it. He could come out and say, “I do terrible things when I am on drugs, and I don’t want to do those things.” He could get drug treatment and counseling, donate to help battered women and fight for women’s causes. There might be a few holdouts, but most people would take him off “the list.” Nearly anyone on this list (with the exceptions of Weinstein, Cosby, and OJ, probably) could follow this same pattern.
Yes, I know this is a children’s literature blog, and I’ve only touched on a few points about children’s literature. Really, this is about Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss is not just a giant in the field. He is the giant in the field. He falls just behind Michael Jackson as the highest grossing deceased artist. (It’s just easier to cancel Woody Allen than Michael Jackson, I guess, even for the same alleged offenses.) With respect to Seuss, nobody has ever been able to write literature as compelling with just a handful of sight words. It’s powerful stuff that fundamentally changed the way we teach children to read. Seuss can’t be canceled. I don’t mean that he won’t be canceled. He can’t be canceled. His contribution to children’s literacy is so completely embedded in the field that you couldn’t possibly disentangle it. The man invented the “I Can Read” book. Children will be reading his works for at least the next century. The estate of Dr. Seuss is charged with making sure that happens, keeping his work fresh, relevant, and meaningful to children and promoting it in ways that ensure its success. When they announced this week that they were no longer going to be publishing six of his titles, that is precisely what they were doing. They brought together the team and consulted with them, and they decided what they thought was best for their business and best for the children. Perhaps you don’t agree. Perhaps you think McElligot’s Pool is an integral part of childhood. Great. Go to a used bookstore and pick up one of the millions of copies that are already out there, but the estate of Dr. Seuss is under no obligation to sell you one themselves.
Until a couple weeks ago, you weren’t able to see the last couple seasons of The Muppet Show, unless you traveled to an archive somewhere. Nobody is a bigger lover of the work of Jim Henson than I. Disney+ added nearly all of the episodes of the show, and they added a disclaimer before select episodes that some of the portrayals in the show might be considered offensive. Some of his work did trade in stereotypes. It was a different era. Standards and attitudes are different. If Henson were alive today, I suspect that his gentleness and kindness would win out. He wouldn’t want to hurt someone. The fact of the matter is that Disney made more of Henson’s work available, and people still whined about how they were trying to “cancel” him. Maybe some parents want to know if an upcoming episode contains something that they might want to contextualize for their kids. If you aren’t one of those parents, then just ignore the disclaimer.
It is true that Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles wouldn’t be the same movie if it were made today. It’s also true that Black Panther wouldn’t have been made at all in the 1970s. Things change. In the grand scheme of things, though, we’ve been “un-canceling” a lot more people recently than we’ve canceled.
This blog post isn’t intended as a bunch of “whatabout-ism.” It isn’t that in the slightest. The big point is that the overwhelming likelihood is that of the dozens of people I listed, there are probably some that you would never support and whose work you would never pay to see. There are also probably some of the people on this “cancel” list who you wish weren’t on there. That’s the point. Everyone believes in cancel culture. If you disagree with something someone said or did enough, you aren’t going to be a patron of their art. It’s not a character flaw on your part. I might even say it’s a virtue. Maybe you draw the line in a different place than other people, but you’ve got a line. If you were being honest, it’s likely that you don’t draw the line someplace drastically different from most people. You probably just draw it on a different side of the center line. (Getting mad and refusing to buy a toy for being called “Potato Head” is just as much of a cancel as getting mad at a toy for being called “Mr. Potato Head…)
Whenever I hear someone complain about “cancel culture,” they usually try to sound like they’re the line of defense, protecting our freedoms. My time is in short supply, and I am careful with my money. I value the freedom to decide to whom I am willing to give them. When cancel culture critics speak, it’s always with the same sanctimony they accuse others of having. All the critiques they throw out there can easily be tossed back. They should get off social media and just let people live their lives. They need to stop dictating who I’m supposed to watch or read or listen to. They can live and let live. They can let companies decide what will make the most money and increase their market share. If Disney and Seuss want to sell family-friendly products, then they get to decide what it means to be family friendly. If you don’t like their definition, you don’t have to give them your money. It’s called canceling, and everyone believes in it. Some of us just have the courage to admit it.
