Call Out/Cancel Culture: the good, the bad and Dababy

 If you have been present in the social media arena since the early months of 2015, you probably already know about cancel culture. If not, what does it mean to get “cancelled”? 

Well, cancel culture is an act of ostracizing people (mostly celebrities) or institutions on the internet (particularly social media) for an act deemed unacceptable by a vast majority.

So it’s basically, it is 21^st Century public shaming, but without pitchforks, the tar and feathers. That’s all been replaced by a hashtag.

You may be familiar with some popular instances like Lana Delray the feminist anti-feminism, Doja Cat a white supremacist in a biracial popstar’s body, Ellen DeGeneres the workplace Hitler, JK Rowling’s hate for transwomen, McDonald’s rat a la cart, Tory Lanez and his eager trigger finger (yeah, I should be a rapper too) on a night out with Meghan the Stallion and the whitewashed Grammies. These are just a few I could mention from the last decade.

And each time these celebrities or institutions got “cancelled” by fans, people on social media, sometimes even by fellow celebrities. With people on the internet calling out for them to be boycotted and take accountability for their actions.

The Good

 With all the criticism of cancelled culture, it does  serve a purpose. It works to highlight racist, sexist and other social or cultural inequalities.

it was the call out part of the #Metoo movement that led to widespread justice. And let’s not forget how it has exposed a lot of racist behaviour, with “Karen’s” getting caught on camera all over America. It was also one of the leading factors that lead to the prosecution of people like R Kelly, Harvey Weinstein and Derek Chauvin (from the George Floyd murder).

Cancel/ call-out culture has opened up a new phase for these social movements. Showing that you can be an activist just by tweeting on your phone, and your voice will get heard. Showed offenders that even though time has passed, the internet never forgets and what you did in the dark or in a bubble of ignorance will eventually come to light. It brought the world into an era of accountability.

Cancel culture has paid its dues.

The Bad

With great responsibility comes the overwhelming urge to destroy.

The list I put above of examples of “cancel” culture events is controversial but not entirely true. Some of these people didn’t actually do what they were accused of but the public chose to believe what they wanted. And lately, that is what cancel culture has become, people spinning stories and blowing it so far out of proportion that the truth means nothing in the end.

And now it’s gotten to the point where people are afraid to share even a slightly different opinion on social media. “The fear of getting cancelled.” Does that make us socially and culturally conscious or just quiet?

And if you do get cancelled, how long does it last? How long do you stand in the corner and face the wall till the teacher is satisfied? What is classified as satisfaction? Nowadays cancel culture trends die out in a week or two then the cancel patrol is back on the hunt for a new offender.

Dababy

Now let’s talk about Dababy. You may have noticed a little spotlight on him in recent weeks, due to some very questionable and misinformed remarks he made about HIV during one of his shows.

This is just one of the few things Dababy has been called out for on social media just in the past year. But this one had the internet particularly outraged and has since caused him to get cancelled. His cancellation led to him being dropped from the song “Levitating” with Dua Lipa and more than a few shows and big deals.

He eventually apologized on Instagram of course, but in true unrepentant internet gangster fashion, he decided to rescind it by deleting that apology a few days after it got released. Did it end there? Absolutely not!

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  A sane person might remain silent till the storm blows over, unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be Dababy’s MO. He recently released a freestyle mocking the fact that he was cancelled and in his own way insinuating that it did not affect his “bag” at the end of the day.

The entire Dababy saga proves the powerful nature of culture. This wasn’t just some hate tweets and a meme storm, he actually lost money and opportunities over his actions. So his “bag” is not as secure as he’d like us to think.

 But could he be taking a much-needed stance against cancel culture? Showing us that it’s ultimately futile because his career would come out of this entire debacle intact. Even then, in this fight is he Martin Luther or OJ?

One thing is sure, he’s fighting fire with fire and we’ll just have to wait and see who gets burned.