Cancel culture has been running rampant over the past few years.
This is when a celebrity is outed in Hollywood due to a controversial action, whether that be offensive comments they made or past mistakes.
After living in fear for so long, many celebs want to put a “cancel” on cancel culture. Here, 10+ celebs who have called out cancel culture.
1. Jameela Jamil
The outspoken celeb didn’t back down when asked about cancel culture by Harvard students.
“We need to separate what’s been canceled and what’s being called out,” she said , adding that “celebrities are such snowflakes.” Thankfully, she’s in a “good place” now after being canceled herself.
2. Demi Lovato
The singer was invited to her own #DemiIsOverParty for allegedly creating a secret Instagram account that bashed Selena Gomez.
“I’ve been canceled so many times, I can’t even count…” the singer said on Jameela Jamil’s I Weigh podcast.
She went on to say that cancel culture isn’t “real” since many celebs are still thriving in their careers.
She made a really good point by asking, “Where is the forgiveness culture?” and saying that “cancel culture will not work unless people have some sort of mercy.”
3. Kelly Rowland
After seeing many of her fellow celebs get canceled, the former Destiny’s Child singer is just grateful she’s not one of them.
“Let us always TRY to remember NOT to judge others,” she wrote. “We HONESTLY don’t have the space nor authority too.”
4. Lili Reinhart
The actress found it ” remarkably selfish ” when trolls tried to cancel her Riverdale costars over sexual assault allegations.
In the end, the allegations had been nothing more than a Twitter account trying to prove that people will believe anything.
5. Ricky Gervais
As someone who’s known for crossing the line with his Golden Globes speeches, he’s not down with censorship.
He told Metro that he understands not watching someone because you don’t like them. But trying to get a celeb fired is where things tip over to not being okay.
“Everyone’s allowed to call you an [expletive], everyone’s allowed to stop watching your stuff, everyone’s allowed to burn your DVDs, but you shouldn’t have to go to court for saying a joke that someone didn’t like,” he said.
He concluded by saying, “if you don’t agree to someone’s right to say something you don’t agree with, you don’t agree with freedom of speech.”
6. Cardi B
If anyone knows about cancel culture, it’s the rapper. She’s been threatened with it nearly every day — and she’s fed up.
“It’s like I have a target on my back, but it’s not because of my music,” she told Elle .
In the past, she has stirred up controversy for using anti-Asian slurs and being involved in an attack at a strip club.
She believes that cancel culture is a way to have her “feel the pressure of bullying.”
7. J.K. Rowling
In 2020, the Harry Potter author found herself under fire for the controversial comments she made about transgender issues.
She made an argument for not erasing the concept of biological sex — something that caused stars like Daniel Radcliffe to criticize her opinion.
After the controversy, she joined many celebs in an open letter, calling for an end to cancel culture.
“The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted,” the letter read .
8. Taylor Swift
While we can thank cancel culture for Taylor’s superb Reputation album, she’s not the biggest fan of the concept.
In a revealing 2019 interview with Vogue , she went on to call the experience of being canceled an “isolating” experience.
“I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly,” she said.
She continued, adding that it’s potentially life-threatening, as the hate could be perceived as “kill yourself.”
9. Dua Lipa
The singer has had enough of cancel culture messing with her head.
In an interview with Attitude , she revealed that she once thought people were only filming her at concerts to laugh at her.
“I think there is so much judgement and meanness… cancel culture is so dangerous and toxic,” she said.
“Being funny is the greatest currency, even if it’s at the expense of somebody else,” she continued, adding that she’s faced a lot of bullying so far in her career.
10. Nick Cannon
The actor and comedian developed thoughts on cancel culture after he lost his podcast due to anti-Semitic comments he made.
“It shouldn’t [be] cancel culture. It should be counsel culture,” Nick shared on his Instagram.
11. Rowan Atkinson
The Mr. Bean comedian finds cancel culture no laughing matter.
“It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn,” he told The Times .
12. Kevin Hart
The Jumanji actor slammed cancel culture after he was forced to step down from hosting the 2019 Academy Awards over past homophobic tweets.
The experience taught him that people should be accepting of others’ “mistakes.”
He believes that cancel culture gives the “same level of treatment” to everyone, despite what they’ve done wrong.
“Like, does everybody deserve the same level of treatment? I don’t think so. If that’s the case, then everybody would be in the same type of jail cell,” he told Deadline .
13. Bryan Cranston
Bryan believes that our society is in a state of gross over-correction.
The former Breaking Bad star has stated that forgiveness has become a foreign concept and that we as a people have grown hard and harsh in our ways.
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14. Robert Downey Jr.
When the internet tried to label Chris Pratt as a white supremacist, RDJ came to his rescue.
He called on all those who had a problem with Chris to address the problem head-on and simply delete their own social media.
Fellow star of *The Avengers*, Mark Ruffalo, echoed RDJ’s comments:
The Hulk spoke about how he knew Chris on a personal level, and that in his mind, Chris was/is as upstanding a human being as there possibly could be.
15. Elizabeth Olsen
When Elizabeth Olsen referred to her WandaVision character, Wanda Maximoff, as a “gypsy,” the internet attempted to have her tarred and feathered as a racist .
She’s since deleted her Instagram after being berated for not making a public post about the death of Chadwick Boseman.
16. Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle is one of the most significant comedians of the past 30 years.
In his opinion, cancel culture is nothing more than a progressive attempt to enforce and police culture. Either everything is sacred or nothing is.
17. Karamo Brown
Karamo is best known for being a member of the new Fab Five on Queer Eye .
Karamo said via Screen Rant that people have attempted to cancel him several times over but, “there’s always a reason why I’m doing it, which is for the betterment of my community.”
18. Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy has stated that his previous comedic routines were ignorant, but at the same time, he isn’t afraid of cancel culture.
According to the legendary comedian, he has a huge aversion to technology . I suppose not reading what people have to say is one way to silence your critics.
19. Barack Obama
Barack Obama is quick to point out that call-out or cancel culture isn’t activism.
The former president argues that this way of looking at the world does nothing to bring about positive change and is a detriment to society.
