The Cancel Club
By Praditya Fulumirani | October 21, 2021
I don't think the term “cancel culture” needs an introduction in this day and age, and even if I did attempt to explain, I probably wouldn’t be able to settle on a definition that works for everyone. Personally, I think it’s a catch-all phrase that’s often misused. Sometimes, I feel like people are talking about mob mentality when they talk about “cancel culture.” Because there is no singular force deciding which public figure gets “canceled.” It’s not as if a group of individuals gather around every month in some shadowy chamber and decide which poor, unfortunate soul gets their reputation bludgeoned across the web. But now I’m getting into a matter of semantics. Regardless of how you feel about cancel culture, or how you think it came to be, its existence is undeniable. The more important question is, how does one survive it?
There are seemingly dozens of celebrities and companies getting canceled regularly, so as an aspiring PR professional, it’s important to be prepared when the inevitable comes knocking at your client’s door. Step one is taking preventive measures because one of the common ways one gets canceled would be through old social media posts, so the first thing you should do is scrub clean your accounts. When you get called out, don’t cry and go, “Oh, I don’t think that way anymore.” If you really don’t think that way anymore and you regret those posts so much, go ahead and delete them before someone takes a screenshot and uses it against you. Starting with a clean social media slate prevents probably about half of the things people get canceled for.
Another thing to do is not fight against the mob. It’s not worth it. People are going to have an opinion regardless of your actions, whether they’re negative or positive, and going around preaching about how cancel culture is destroying the world when you get caught saying something questionable from five years ago is just not a good look. Accept the cancellation with grace.
Actions have consequences. I think reframing conversations regarding cancel culture into those about accountability will end up being more productive for your client. If you screw up, simply say sorry and move on. Well, somethings are indefensible, but most of the time, folks on Twitter just want you to own up to your mistakes, and if people don’t accept your apology then at least you tried. Maybe then, that’ll make you think twice before speaking.
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Author’s Bio: Praditya Fulumirani is a senior at CSUN studying journalism with an emphasis in public relations. He is passionate about the entertainment world and hopes to delve into that field after graduating. In his free time, he reads, writes, repeats the same three songs on Spotify, and drinks way too much iced coffee.