Cancel culture is hard to define. Thanks to its exploitation as a political tool, the phrase has undergone buzzword-ification to such an extent that its meaning is now too broad to be useful. Morgan Wallen (a country star with a streak of idiotic and offensive behavior), Bud Light (a beer brand that collaborated with a trans influencer), and Chris D’Elia (a comedian accused of serial grooming and sexual assault) all faced extended periods of public scrutiny and, as such, are often considered ‘victims of cancel culture.’ All the while, the respective harm caused by each party, as well as the consequences they individually faced, are impossible to compare.
And yet, “cancel culture” as a concept continues to be at the forefront of identity politics and popular culture at large, be it comedians making tasteless, problematic jokes (like Tony “Kill Tony” Hinchcliffe) or genuine monsters using it as a way to undercut gravely serious allegations (like Sean “Diddy” Combs). While it’s true impact was always debatable (even the National Association of Scholars, an explicitly conservative organization focused on tracking instances of “cancellation” in academia, only clocked a mere three examples for the whole of 2024), recent trends hint that cancel culture is less powerful than ever — leading some to sense an opportunity.
Just a few weeks into the new year, 2025 is already shaping up to be the year of the uncancellation, the year of the comeback, the year those slain by cancel culture rise again regardless of their transgressions. It’s not a trend that necessarily started once the clock struck midnight on January 1st, but it’s one that seems poised to dominate the coming months.
Last year seemed to mark the shift. Just take a look at some of the biggest names in “the industry,” the folks selling out stadiums and moving truckloads of records and having presidential candidates on their podcasts. Morgan Wallen, for instance, has spent the better part of his career navigating cancellable controversies. NBC replaced the country star as Saturday Night Live’s musical guest for partying without a mask at the height of the pandemic, he was caught using the N-word on video, and he pleaded guilty to criminal charges just last month in order to drop them from felonies to misdemeanors. Such actions garnered him a lot of bad press, lost him some fans, gained him a good chunk of new fans, and (in a wild cosign Wallen likely wants to forget) led Sean “Diddy” Combs to jump to his defense. Despite the messiness, Billboard just revealed that his record Dangerous: The Double Album is the best-performing album of the 21st century, and he continues to be one of the biggest draws in country music — arguably the dominant genre of American culture today.
A similar story is that of Shane Gillis, a comedian SNL canned before his first episode after clips of him making what many considered to be racist jokes resurfaced. In the years since, his footprint has skyrocketed: He’s buddied up with the Joe Rogan crowd, landed multiple Netflix projects, secured high-profile sponsorship gigs (more on that later), and continues to perform to packed arenas around the country. Now, he’s inarguably one of the biggest names in comedy as the 2020s reach their halfway mark. (Come to think of it, between Gillis and Wallen, running into problems with SNL might be a shortcut to the top.)
I could go on listing example after example of public figures who have undergone varying levels of cancellation only to emerge unscathed or perhaps even better off — Dave Chappelle, All Time Low, Deshaun Watson, Jared Leto, Jerry Seinfeld, Brad Pitt, Logan Paul, Falling in Reverse, David Dobric, Travis Scott, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, etc.
