To say that 2020 has been a crazy year is an understatement. Aside from the pandemic, there have been other issues like growing racial tensions, which have caused some of my favorite celebrities to fall victim to “cancel culture.” They were “canceled” mainly because they wouldn't disavow racism or show a true stance on Black Lives Matter. Some have also fallen victim because of their inability or unwillingness to apologize for old jokes they have made that had racist undertones. After all, in the day and age of the internet, anything you say or do lives on forever.
One of the most shocking celebrities
who fell victim to cancel culture this year was YouTuber Shane Dawson. He is
one of my favorite YouTubers and for a long time he was popular. After the
death of George Floyd and when people began protesting, viewers went back and
looked at his past videos. They called out his use of blackface in videos along
with certain jokes that he had made. Those jokes in my opinion were probably in
bad taste because they had racial undertones. When Shane didn't apologize right
away, fans lashed out. They found more things to use against him. That
eventually led him to apologize, but to most people, his apology seemed hollow.
It seemed like he was apologizing just to appease people.
Another group of celebrities who
fell victim to cancel culture is a band. They are my favorite band of all time.
Their name is Hanson and they also failed to acknowledge Black Lives Matter –
at least, in a way that suited fans. It took them days to release a statement
as a band. According to some fans, this silence spoke volumes. When they finally
said something, it came across like they were saying All Lives Matter instead
of Black Lives Matter. How they handled it individually as well as on their own
social media accounts was about the same and that upset fans more, even creating
ire in some. Something else that also created tension among the fanbase was the
fact that fans tended to take sides. Some agreed with how the band was handling
things while others who fell into the majority wanted the band to do better.
One of the band member’s individual
responses created more controversy. Zac Hanson, the youngest member of the
band, got himself into even more hot water. It occurred after the initial
backlash of how the band responded to Black Lives Matter. A fan found a
Pinterest account that Zac had and leaked it on Twitter. On the Pinterest
account, Zac had pinned memes that were racist in nature and some could be read
in a transphobic and homophobic light as well. Once that was exposed, fans began
harassing him as well as the other band members on social media. It took days,
but Zac eventually admitted the Pinterest was his. He tried to explain away the
memes he had pinned. He said that he didn't see any of the memes as racist,
homophobic, or transphobic. Instead, he saw them in the light of one fighting
for his right to own guns. Most of the memes, after all, were geared toward
people who are pro-guns. That didn't make fans happy and even now, months later,
fans are still taking their anger out on him. They leave snarky comments on the
bands' social media posts or on Zac’s social media accounts. The fans have even
harassed his wife on social media to the point that she had to go private on
Instagram.
I think what this all proves,
besides the fact that 2020 is just one crazy year, is that maybe we shouldn't
put celebrities on pedestals. In the end they will fall off those pedestals.
They are humans too and they have faults and make mistakes. They don't always
live up to the expectations we as fans have for them.
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