makers08 120_162.qxp_Layout 1 24/11/2021 21:48 Page 153
cancel culture is the iDea of taking aWay support for an inDiviDual, branDs, shoWs anD Movies Due to What soMe consiDer to be offensive or probleMatic reMarks or iDeologies.
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That result sparked cancellers to double their efforts to get another food brand, Uncle Ben, to change its name for the same reason. It worked and the brand's parent company, Mars, said it would change it to Ben's.
Netflix, for example, has come in for serious criticism for airing Dave Chappelle special The Closer, in which he says, "gender is a fact" and that LGBT people are "too sensitive".
Some people who have been cancelled have gone on to be held accountable for serious crimes, relating to what they were called out for such as Harvey Weinstein, R Kelly and Bill Cosby.
The Netflix special sparked a transgender backlash and a Netflix employee walkout.
However, others believe cancel culture is more of a mob mentality that’s got out of control. Sometimes it seems like a new celebrity falls out of favour every day. Others think cancel culture is creating an onslaught of boring movies and television series. Atlanta creator David Glover took to Twitter earlier this year after noticing users on the social media platform complaining about how tired they are of reviewing lacklustre films and series. “We’re getting boring stuff and not even experimental mistakes because people are afraid of getting cancelled,” the comedian wrote. “So they feel like they can only experiment with aesthetic.” Johnny Depp also took aim at cancel culture during an appearance at the San Sebastian Film Festival, describing it as being “so far out of hand” while discussing his fall from grace in Hollywood. The actor was speaking in the wake of his libel case against British tabloid The Sun, which characterised Depp as a wife-beater as it related to the treatment of ex-wife Amber Heard. He lost that court case and subsequently did not appear in the third entry in Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise. The actor said cancel culture as a movement is “so far out of hand now that I can promise you that no one is safe. Not one of you. No one out that door. No one is safe, as long as someone is willing to say one sentence.” Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson also thinks cancel culture has gone too far. “I think there’s definitely a major overcorrection happening,” she told The Hollywood Reporter recently. “But I do believe that there’s a way for the pendulum to find the middle.” Navigating cancel culture is tricky even for the biggest studios and streamers, no matter how much PR support they can pay for.
Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos apologised for how he handled internal dissent from employees, saying: "I screwed up." He told Variety: “First “we’re getting and foremost, I should Boring stuff have led with a lot more and not even humanity. Meaning, I experimental had a group of mistakes Because employees who were people are afraid definitely feeling pain of getting and hurt from a decision cancelled.” we made. And I think that needs to be acknowledged upfront before you get into the nuts and bolts of anything. I didn't do that." It's little wonder that cancel culture is having profound impact on companies throughout the media and entertainment sector, with executives acutely worried that something they say will affect their business or that a star interview damages the prospects of a movie or TV series. Many within the industry are investing in training as a result. “Some of my clients are giving all of their staff courses on unconscious bias to educate and make sure their people are more aware,” says one PR executive. Unconscious bias training is designed to tackle the deep-seated prejudices we all absorb due to living in deeply unequal societies. In the UK, for example, ScreenSkills and BIFA rolled out an online learning module this year designed to address unconscious bias and to promote greater diversity and inclusion in the screen industries. Given that the creative industries have long struggled with deep seated issues around diversity, bullying and sexism, such initiatives have been welcomed – and could also go some way to tackling the root causes for why so many stars and execs have been cancelled in the first place.
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