# Cancel Culture and Canceling versus consequences for actions

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-canceling-versus-consequences-for-actions/1020644>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 8, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-canceling-versus-consequences-for-actions/1020644 "2025-07-08T22:55:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 655

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-canceling-versus-consequences-for-actions/1020644/655 "2025-07-19T18:47:56Z")

</div>

I initially wrote this in the “guy caught cheating at Coldplay concert and social media loses its mind” thread, but on reflection, it’s a better fit here.

> [@Couple caught cheating at Coldplay concert and social media loses its mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/couple-caught-cheating-at-coldplay-concert-and-social-media-loses-its-mind/1021060/57):
>
> From the BBC:
> 
> > A US tech company has placed its CEO on leave after a big screen embrace at a Coldplay concert - rumoured to involve two of its employees - went viral.
> 
> > “Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding,” the statement read. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability. The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly.”

Being placed on leave is usually a necessary preliminary step to being ~~cancelled~~ fired, especially in high-profile cases. Cancel culture strikes again!

Please note that I am **not** defending the guy. What I’m saying is that there’s a lot about this situation that we don’t know. But apparently social media knows all, and they’re out to get him, because that’s what social media does in the cancel culture world.

The guy was embracing a female colleague at a concert. Were they having an affair? Probably. Was that wrong? Not if his marriage was already on the rocks. Maybe they were already contemplating a divorce. Maybe they were already separated. We don’t know. But cancel culture doesn’t care. And it may very well have destroyed the guy’s career. Was such a consequence justified? Again, I refer to these three words: **we don’t know**.

Maybe an investigation will exonerate him, echoing the findings in the Chris Hardwick case. But the evidence in his defense would have to be very strong given the tsunami of negative social media commentary against him.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cancel-culture-and-canceling-versus-consequences-for-actions/1020644)._