Cancel culture: what is it, and how did it begin?

In 2020, there's one c-word more politically charged than coronavirus: cancelled. The debate over so-called internet “cancel culture” – a rallying cry or cudgel, depending on which end of the political spectrum you're reading this from – has grown gradually louder over the second half of the decade.

Accelerated by the increased role of the internet over the last few months as the physical world went into lockdown, the rights and wrongs of "cancelling" have never been more prominent in the cultural conversation.

Earlier this month came the publication of the Harper's letter, an open letter signed by more than 150 prominent authors, thinkers and journalists, including JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, decrying what they see as the consequences of cancel culture: a loss of open debate and tolerance. A counter-letter defending cancel culture as a way of dealing “with the problem of power: who has it and who does not” swiftly followed.

But how did we get here? Where did the term “cancel” come from, and why has it become a touchstone for political polarisation?

Defining the problem – what does cancelling mean?

Before digging into the history of the term, it's helpful to establish what exactly it means to cancel someone or something. Unfortunately, as with so much these days, the answer to that really depends who you ask.

Most simply, to cancel someone is to reject them, to ignore, to publicly oppose their views or actions and to deprive them of time and attention – and, sometimes, their ability to make a living.

To many on the left, it is a classic tactic of the politically disenfranchised adapted for the hashtag-obsessed internet age. A “cultural boycott” is how Lisa Nakamura, a professor at the University of Michigan who studies the intersection of digital media and race, gender and sexuality, describes that tactic. When a group of people lack the power to change or dismantle something, one of the few options available to them is to refuse to participate. In the economy of the internet, where attention often equals money, such a boycott has consequences.

On the right, “cancel culture” is seen as kind of internet mob rule, a blunt instrument wielded by the intolerant against free speech and open debate. Signatories of the Harper's letter fear that the “restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation.” (Although the right has been known to have people cancelled themselves – more on that later.)

In everyday parlance, cancelling someone can be jokey and inconsequential:

But it can also be deployed totally seriously, with real-life consequences. The story of how the term “cancel” entered the political arena encompasses both sides of the coin.

'Call-out culture' versus 'cancel culture'

A note on terminology: another related internet term that gets thrown around a lot is “call-out culture” – a concept related to but distinct from the popular understanding of cancel culture. Really, a call-out is preceding stage to a cancellation: if someone says something online that I find offensive, I can tell them and they avoid doing it again.

Since the idea of a call-out is essentially remedial rather than punitive, activists like actress Jameela Jamil have publicly advocated it over cancel culture.

Jamil, who has been both a leader in calling out social media posts from celebrities including Kim Kardashian that encourage unrealistic female body images, has herself been the subject of vehement criticism. But as she recently put it: “I am a fallible human being. I try not to make mistakes but when I slip up, I refuse to then be cast away forever. Most human beings are capable of change and decency and doing better.”

'Cancel that bitch': cancel culture's on-screen origin

It's impossible to know for sure where the use of the word cancel as we know it began, but the best guess (via Vox) is from the mouth a particular nasty character in Mario Van Peeble's 1991 New York crime thriller New Jack City. In one scene, drug boss Nino, played by Wesley Snipes, is railed at by his girlfriend for the violence he oversees. His response? He shoves her onto a table, inexplicably douses his her with champagne and dumps her with the words “Cancel that bitch. I'll buy another.”

Despite its relatively small budget, New Jack City was the highest grossing independent film of 1991 and became something of a cult classic. Then in 2010, Lil Wayne – widely considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation - he currently enjoys about 20 million monthly listeners on Spotify - referenced the scene with a line in his song I'm Single: “Yeah, I’m single / n____ had to cancel that bitch like Nino.” The seeds of cancel culture had been sown.

'You're cancelled': when reality TV put cancel culture on the internet

In December 2014, american cable channel VH1’s reality show Love and Hip-Hop: New York aired an episode in which cast member Diamond Strawberry (yes, you heard me) tells her boyfriend Cisco Rosado that she has a six-year-old daughter. His response? Well, you can guess.

This was the moment that the term cancelled took hold on Twitter, particularly Black Twitter – a shorthand for a large network of black, largely American Twitter users who often coordinate to draw attention to political and racial issues via hashtags.

Cancel culture's characteristic mixture of seriousness and silliness was present from those earliest tweets:

'It seems I missed the part where Louis CK served time': #MeToo and the dilution of cancel culture

Cancel culture developed hand-in-hand with MeToo movement, which swept the world in 2017 as women began to speak out about widespread cultures of sexual assault in workplaces and industries. Some of the most prominent individuals accused face criminal charges – Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in jail for rape and other sex crimes earlier this year, while financier Jeffrey Epstein died while awaiting trial for sex trafficking in 2019 – but many faced their biggest recriminations online.

When Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual assault by several actors, some of whom were underage, he was dropped from his starring role in the HBO drama series House of Cards, replaced in the film All The Money In The World and the Gore Vidal biopic he was supposed to be shooting for Netflix was also cancelled. Spacey was charged with several sexual offences but none have so far been successfully prosecuted and he denies all allegations. Nevertheless, his cancellation seems effectively to have ended his career.

By contrast, comedian Louis CK, who admitted to several incidents of sexual misconduct the same year, made a successful return to stand-up in 2018, including a sell-out tour the next year and a new comedy special, released in 2020. His career is diminished, yes, but not necessarily cancelled.

'If I were to have voted, I would have voted on Trump': the first celebrity casualties

At first, cancel culture was most often deployed as a kangaroo court for alleged abusers and predators. Not any more. If you type the phrase into Google today, you're more likely to find celebrity gaffes than crimes or abuses of power. The pandemic has proved a particularly fertile time for bored stars to air their fruitier views in public.

But celebrities have been targeted by cancel culture from its inception. 2016, the year of the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's election can also be fondly remembered for claiming cancel culture's first prominent celebrity casualties.

Kanye West was once a titan of American culture – the man credited with producing some of the most interesting music of our time and for criticising George Bush over the plight of black citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Occasionally prone to outspoken and ill-judged public utterances, West took it too far for many of his fans when he announced onstage that he was a Trump supporter. He appeared in a photo opp with the President at Trump Tower later the same year and in 2018 declared that “slavery was a choice”. Unfollowed on social media by prominent celebrities and labelled “dangerous” by public intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kanye West was officially cancelled. (Things are a little more complicated in 2020.)

The same year, the latest twist in West's longtime feud with fellow American artist Taylor Swift sounded the death knell for Swift's internet good name. West's wife Kim Kardashian released video footage suggesting that Swift herself had agreed to a derogatory lyric West had written about her, before publicly condemning him for it. At one point, the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty was the number one Twitter trend worldwide. “Do you know how many people have to be tweeting that they hate you for that to happen?” said Swift in the 2020 documentary Miss Americana.

In the UK, the impact of cancel culture on several public figures has seen it becoming an increasingly common phrase. In January, actor Laurence Fox was vehemently criticised for for claiming the Duchess of Sussex had not been a victim of racism on the BBC’s Question Time. “I have come to the conclusion that I may never get an acting job again without expressing ‘correct’ opinions,” he wrote.

JK Rowling has been effectively disowned by die-hard Harry Potter fans for repeatedly airing her strident views on transgender rights. In July alone, #JodieComerIsOverParty started trending on Twitter after Killing Eve actress Jodie Comer was photographed with a man who may or may not be a Republican, and UK rapper Wiley was banished from social media and dropped by his management company for anti-Semitic tweets.

The rise of right-wing cancel culture

While the left have undoubtedly taken ownership of cancel culture in 2020, the political right has carried out its fair share of high profile cancellations. The individual who has arguably done more than any other to put cancel culture on the map also happens to owe his Presidential victory to a conservative base.

Despite frequently deriding it, Donald Trump embraces cancel culture: over the years he has called for the boycott of everything from leading brands (Macy’s, Apple, Harley Davidson, HBO), to films (The Hunt), to countries (Mexico). He has also demanded the firing of innumerable journalists and has frequently fired or excluded from favour civil servants and politicians he has clashed with.

But the right's dabbling in cancel culture is not confined to the present White House. In 2018, Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director James Gunn from the third instalment of the franchise after old tweets that included jokes about rape and paedophilia emerged. The tweets were brought to light by alt-right conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich, in response to Gunn's criticisms of Donald Trump, leading to widespread speculation that the firing was politically motivated (Disney later reversed its decision and brought Gunn back).

The same year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was among the prominent Republicans calling for the firing of Democratic Senator - and former comedian - Al Franken following allegations of sexual assault. Franken denied all charges, but was forced to resign.

Can cancel culture be cancelled?

In 2018 the New York Times published a piece entitled 'Everyone is Canceled' and they had a point. Nearly 30 years after gangster Nino poured fizz over his girlfriend, it can sometimes feel as though there's no one left for Twitter to shout at.

The big careers impeded or ended over the last few years are testament to cancel culture's boycotting power. Comedian Roseanne Barr was fired from her own show in 2018 after a racially offensive tweet about one of Barack Obama's advisers. In 2019 Saturday Night Live fired comedian Shane Gillis before his first appearance after podcast footage surfaced of him making racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments. Netflix has just scrapped plans for a show with comedian Chris D'Elia after multiple accusations of sexual harassment. Even Louis CK is said to have lost millions following his brief cancellation.

On the other hand, as Kanye, Taylor and Louis CK have all prominently demonstrated, it's perfectly possible for cancelled figures to make full recoveries from their respective hashtags. Laurence Fox has arguably never been more popular. And for all the talk of JK Rowling's views harming Harry Potter's legacy, her book sales have boomed during the pandemic.

It is an exceptionally big leap for Twitter outrage to become the kind of total erasure envisaged by the most ardent practitioners of cancel culture. Perhaps there's no need to panic about living in an Orwellian dystopia just yet; cancel culture can itself be cancelled.