The days of the disempowered staying quiet are over, but historical biases and confusing rhetoric have changed how we hold wrongdoers accountable.

By Taryn Finley | Published Nov. 6, 2023

This is the first story in our weeklong series on cancel culture.
Read the next story here .

There was once a time when celebrities and public figures could be accused of committing a crime or wrongdoing and people might barely bat an eye. Their jobs and fandom stayed intact; their accuser was silenced, and people moved on.

Take Dr. Dre, for example. In 1991, journalist Dee Barnes pressed charges against the Compton, California, rapper alleging that he brutally attacked her at a party while his bodyguard held off potential interferers at gunpoint. The next year, Dr. Dre who pleaded no contest to battery and eventually settled a civil lawsuit with Barnes out of court released his debut album, The Chronic, which went on to become praised as a classic. Meanwhile, Barnes had her story largely erased and reduced to a joke. While Dre got more famous and successful, Barnes career ended.

I was uniquely punished, you know, because, you know, youre not supposed to snitch, Barnes told NPR in May. But at the same time, if I didnt do something, I felt like, you know, the next victim would not be as lucky. And thats really a horrible choice of words, because I was not lucky maybe lucky in the sense that I didnt die that night.

Though a rampant culture of misogyny and violence exists to this day, its hard to see a world where a public figure goes unchecked at the very least from the internet after committing a heinous act. Its almost cyclical. Upon learning about an alleged crime, the public calls for the supposed perpetrator to be canceled. This public dragging usually coincides with companies and institutions severing ties with the celeb and, sometimes, an indictment or conviction.

It happened earlier this year with once-rising Hollywood phenom Jonathan Majors . He was arrested over domestic violence allegations and was dropped by his management team, various film and TV projects, and brand deals. The backlash and distancing from Majors, who pleaded not guilty in the case, was swift. Though he didnt lose all of his on-screen work, the blow was damaging enough for social media users to begin side-eyeing actor Meagan Good for dating him soon after the news broke. Aside from paparazzi pictures with family at Red Lobster and a conveniently timed video of Majors breaking up a fight between high school students, the actor has largely been out of public view. Like clockwork, the cancel culture gods came down expeditiously on Majors like a well-oiled machine.

This past decade has seen different iterations of cancel culture. The concept stems from the idea of call-out culture, which has been a tool for those systemically disempowered to have their voices heard, especially on social media.

Cancel culture takes call-out culture a step further though some see them as one and the same demanding that offenders face consequences in the form of losing opportunities and support. Merriam-Webster defines it as the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling or the public withdrawal of support as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.

Though its impossible to trace the first instance of public outrage, in recent history the concept of canceling seems to be rooted in the civil rights movement and boycotting to achieve an equitable, safe and fair livelihood for Black Americans, as Aja Romano noted in a 2020 Vox article . The term itself stems from African American Vernacular English and was widely spread on Black Twitter in the 2010s. The topic of cancel culture peaked when the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements picked up steam.

As the court of public opinion held convicted and accused wrongdoers feet to the fire, industries that historically protected culprits felt the pressure to cut ties with them. Many feared that they, too, would lose supporters and take a monetary hit if they didnt take a stand. After all, to say or do nothing might suggest that they sided with perpetrators and not victims.

This led to several public figures getting their comeuppance in recent years. And it started to feel like a domino effect.